Naruto: Alliance of the Ninja
by StoryLover95
Summary: Its graduation time at Konoha and all of the graduates are excitedly waiting the day they've been looking forward to for their lives at the academy. The Chunin Exams. Full summary inside! Pairings: Sasu/Saku, Naru/Hina, Lee/Ten, Gaara/OC, Neji/OC, Kiba/OC, Kakashi/OC
1. Chunin Exams?

A/N: Hey there guys, this is going to be my very first attempt at a Naruto story and I hope it turns out okay! This one is going to take place WAY back in the show, like before the start of the preliminaries for the Chunin exams. This story is going to turn into an AU after a while, and it'll have a few OC's and it'll introduce characters (like some you wouldn't even see until Shippuden) into the very beginning. This is pretty much me trying to show a take on what I think would happen if things hadn't unfolded the way it had. What if people didn't keep secrets, what if enemies became allies, and what would happen with a global threat? Anyways, that's what this is gonna answer. And with the parings, while I have no problems with really any of the pairings in this show, I'm going to be going with the following: Sasuke/Sakura, Naruto/Hinata, Lee/TenTen, Gaara/OC, Kiba/OC, Neji/OC, Kakashi/OC, and any other possible pairings, feel free to ask about or request.

Full Summary: Its graduation time at Konoha and all of the graduates are excitedly waiting the day they've been looking forward to for their lives at the academy. The Chunin Exams. It was the time where they get the chance to prove themselves. To show their power and prowess in the attempt to make it to the next level of their ninja training and become one step closer to becoming a jounin or even ANBU. But what happens when the some shady characters are sent to compete? Who are these three interesting ninja, and who is their odd mentor? Who are they working with? What is their goal? Naruto and the gang are going to have a lot ahead of them on the road to becoming Chunin!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, only my OC's.

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Naruto: Alliance of the Ninjas

Chapter 1: Chunin Exams?

After several completed, yet complicated missions—thanks to Sasuke and Naruto's rivalry—Team 7 met back up with Kakashi to go over how the missions had gone. Unfortunately, that wasn't going quite well either. Kakashi and Sakura merely watched as Naruto and Sasuke stared down after the raven haired boy said that he was better and stronger than the blonde. Thankfully, before anything escalated, Sasuke snorted and turned to walk away.

"You're wasting my time."

Sakura noticed his retreat and ran to catch up. "Wait, Sasuke I'll go with you!" Sasuke paused in his walking and turned to give Sakura a look. The pink-haired girl blushed and started talking. "Hey, why don't we go do something more personal? You know, to work on our teamwork!"

Sasuke fought off the urge to roll his eyes. "I swear, you're just as bad as Naruto. Instead of flirting why don't you go work on your jutsu so that you can better the team. You know what? Let's face it, you're worse than Naruto."

Sakura's face fell as she let his words sink in, not bothering to call out to him when he walked away. _He's right… I haven't done anything on these missions…_

"Don't worry about him Sakura! You and I can work on our teamwork all day!" Naruto called out, as he sensed the emotions Sakura was feeling. Sakura merely cast a look over her shoulder, but remained silent as she thought about the last few missions and how people always had to come to her rescue. Sasuke, Kakashi, and even Naruto… all of them having to jump in front of her to protect her, and she couldn't do anything to help. "Sakura?"

Sakura looked up in confusion before she noticed Naruto's concerned look on his face. She realized then that he had been calling her for a while and that Kakashi was gone. Putting a smile on her face she shook her head. "Sorry, I couldn't hear you! I was just thinking of some training exercises we could do."

"Oh! Okay!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly.

Sakura sighed in relief that Naruto didn't question her further. But in truth, she _was_ thinking of training exercises. She wasn't going to let the others pass her by while she just stood still. She would catch up and progress with them. She wouldn't be a hindrance anymore. She wouldn't allow it. She woul— was that a moving box? "Uh… Naruto?"

"Yeah?" Naruto asked in confusion as to why she looked so perplexed. She merely pointed over his shoulder. Naruto looked towards where she was pointing and face palmed. He didn't need to see who was inside of it to know it was Konohamaru and his two little friends. And lo and behold as soon as the box was removed, it was those three kids just waiting there.

"Hey boss!" Konohamaru called out.

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Hey, so you need something?"

"You promised you'd play ninja with us today!" Moegi spoke up.

Sakura raised an eyebrow as she stared at Naruto. "A ninja playing ninja?" Sakura's confidence took a nose dive as she realized that _her_ ninja skills weren't even on par with _his_ and he _played_ ninja.

"Hey, who is she?" Konohamaru asked. He stared between Sakura and Naruto before he grinned. "Oh I see! She's you're girlfriend!"

Naruto grinned. "You can tell she's crazy about me-" Naruto never got to finish his statement as his face got to meet Sakura's fist as she punched him clear through a fence out of sheer annoyance and frustration.

"WHAT KINDA GIRLFRIEND ARE YOU?!" Konohamaru called out as Moegi and Udon went to check on Naruto. "YOU'RE A WITCH AND YOU'RE UGLY TOO!"

And that was the straw that broke the camels' back. Sakura glared at the young boy as she cracked her knuckles and approached him slowly. Konohamaru paled as he too got to meet her fist. Sakura growled a bit and turned to start walking away, fully intent on going to get some training in, when Konohamaru sealed the doom of the four. "I don't even think she's human! Did you see how wide her forehead is?!"

Sakura turned around almost mechanically. The four target ninjas all just stared at her until she started charging towards them. Screaming, the four all ran away not wanting to face Sakura's wrath. Unfortunately, Konohamaru—the one furthest in front of the group—ran too far ahead and didn't look where he was going. He soon plowed into another ninja dressed in black with something tied on his back. He had purple markings on his face and a forehead protector that showed he was from the sand village. The ninja raised an eyebrow and looked down at him.

"You need something?"

When Konohamaru didn't respond the boy picked him up by the neck and held him over his head. "So, does this hurt punk?"

The blonde female he was with glared. "Put him down, Kankuro or you'll pay for it later."

"Hey, I'm sorry. The whole thing was my fault," Sakura defended Konohamaru taking step towards them. _Who are they?_ Sakura thought to herself, her hand lingering just over where she had her kunai and shuriken holder secured to her thigh.

"Take your hands off of him right now!" Naruto demanded.

Kankuro grinned. "We have a few minutes until he gets here. Why don't we mess with these punks?"

"Let go of me you jerk!" Konohamaru shouted kicking Kankuro in the chest. It seemed to have no effect.

"You're feisty, but not for long."

Naruto growled and looked like he was ready to start throwing punches. Sakura, tried to take a diplomatic route. "Hey! I already told you that it wasn't his fault, it's mine. Put him down, he's got nothing to do with it, he's just a kid."

Kankuro shrugged. "I don't see how he doesn't, cutie. He's the one who plowed into me, not you. Though, I wouldn't have minded it all that much."

Sakura's face flared red from embarrassment and anger while Naruto settled for charging them. "Put him down!" He demanded. Kankuro merely smirked and started moving his fingers. As soon as he did that, Naruto slipped and fell on his butt, utterly shocked and confused. "What the... what was that!"

"You're village is full of wimps," Kankuro laughed.

"Put him down right now or I'll kick your ass!" Naruto shouted.

"Threats are not going to help anything, Naruto!" Sakura hissed in reply.

Kankuro narrowed his eyes at Naruto. "You're annoying. I don't like brats or wimps. So when a wimp like this starts shooting off his mouth," Kankuro jostled Konohamaru for emphasis, "I want to break him in half." Naruto and Sakura's eyes widened. Naruto tensed to charge again and Sakura pulled out a kunai, about to throw it at Kankuro, foreign ninja or not. The girl behind Kankuro didn't seem to care that Sakura had just pulled out a weapon.

"I'm not involved in any of this. You're on your own Kankuro," she informed him. Kankuro reeled his arm back to punch Konohamaru. Naruto started to charge and Sakura reeled back to throw the kunai, aiming for the hand that was moving forward. Neither she nor Naruto needed to do anything however, seeing as a rock flew out, hit Kankuro's wrist, and caused him to drop the boy.

"You're a long way from home and way out of your league."

The group all turned to see Sasuke tossing a rock in the air and catching in while sitting on a tree branch just near them. "Sasuke!" Sakura called out in surprise, putting her kunai away once more. Sasuke glanced at her briefly before turning back to the foreigners. Konohamaru quickly ran out of the way and hid behind Naruto, not wanting to get caught up in the fray again.

Kankuro snorted. "Oh great, another wimp to tick me off."

Sasuke didn't even flinch, her merely crushed the rock in his hand into dust and let it float into the wind, narrowing his eyes slightly. "Get lost."

"Hey, how come you're not cool like that?" Konohamaru asked Naruto.

Naruto pouted. "Hey, what are you talking about? I would've been able to take him out in two seconds flat!" Internally, he was frustrated beyond believe that it was Sasuke coming to the rescue _again. _He always was getting shown up by Sasuke and he was starting to get sick of it.

"Hey get down here," Kankuro demanded as he glared up at Sasuke, starting to pull the bandaged up item off of his back. "You're the kinda punk I hate the most. All attitude and nothing to back it up."

The unidentified girl looked shocked. "You're going to use the Crow for this?!"

"Kankuro, back off."

Immediately everyone froze. Even Sasuke froze as he heard the voice coming from just next to him. Turning his head—just as everyone else did—he saw a boy with a gourd on his back, red hair, and the kanji that read 'love' on the top left hand side of his forehead, using his chakra to hang upside down from the tree branch. "You're an embarrassment to our village."

Kankuro flinched. "Uh… hey Gaara…"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes a bit. _How did he get there? Only a Jounin at Kakashi's level is that smooth. _

Gaara jumped down from the tree branch and landed by his two friends, glaring at Kankuro causing said boy to flinch. "What are you guys doing here?" Sakura questioned.

"We're here for the Chunin exams," the blonde girl answered.

"The Chunin exams? I've never heard of those?" Naruto questioned, causing those in his team to want to face palm. Konohamaru tugged on his shirt.

"That's the exams every Genin has to take to become a Chunin."

Naruto beamed. "Oh, well then why didn't you say so? I'm so there!" The three foreigners, turned to start walking away.

Sasuke ignored Naruto's outburst and jumped down from the tree and glared at the back of the red-head. "You! Identify yourself."

The girl and Kankuro both paused with the blonde looking confused. "Me? My name's Temari."

"No, him. The guy with the gourd on his back."

He paused and turned around to stare at Sasuke. "My name is Gaara of the Desert. And I'm curious about you too. Who are you?"

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha."

Gaara and Sasuke both continued their stare down before Naruto, being Naruto, decided to bud in. "I bet you're dying to know my name right?" Gaara didn't miss a beat.

"I couldn't care less."

With that the group turned and walked away much to Naruto's annoyance. However no one noticed the three sound ninja up in a different tree observing the situation with malicious grins on their faces.

* * *

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were all waiting on a small bridge for Kakashi to show up. And of course, he was hours late. Sakura, already lamenting over the day she had yesterday, was already at her wits end with waiting. "Why? Why is it always the same thing? He sets the time and then we end up having to wait hours for him!"

"I know! It's unfair!" Naruto immediately agreed.

"I mean I rushed out here so fast I didn't have time to fix my hair!" Sakura complained.

Naruto nodded in agreement. "Yeah! I didn't even have time to brush my teeth or change my underwear!"

"…that's just disgusting."

Kakashi appeared right on the pole above them and waved. "Hey, good morning everyone! Sorry I'm late, I got lost on the path of life."

"LIAR!" Both Naruto and Sakura chorused.

Kakashi ignored them and jumped down so he was standing directly in front of his three Genin. "I know this may be a bit sudden, but I've recommended the three of you for the Chunin exams. Here are the application forms," Kakashi said holding out three slips of paper.

"Application forms?" Sakura asked in confusion.

Kakashi smiled. "You're repeating me Sakura. This is all voluntary. If you don't feel you're ready you can just wait until next year."

"Kakashi-sensei, you're the best!" Naruto exclaimed jumping over to hug his teacher. Kakashi seemed very uncomfortable by the action and practically tried to throw the blonde off.

"Don't slobber on my vest. Now, whoever wants to take the exams, sign the forms then come to room 301 at the academy at 3 pm five days from now. That's it," Kakashi said hanging out a form to each of his pupils. "Oh, and no fighting with any of the foreigners before the exams. We don't want to have a conflict with any of our neighboring lands, got it?"

"Got it."

**Alright, so what do you guys think so far? Feedback would be greatly appreciated, and OC's will be introduced next chapter. If after five chapters I feel like this story is blah, then I'll probably drop it. But I don't think I will, I really like this idea. **


	2. Foreigners

A/N: Wow I really didn't expect to get three reviews in one day! Or as many favorites and follows that I get! I really appreciate it, and thanks to all of you who reviewed, favorited, followed, etc. This chapter you guys get to see the OC's and a little bit about what they're all about! Oh and in a response to a review I recieved from **Hearts grow** there SHALL be Shikamaru/Temari moments in here! Don't worry, they'll make an appearance sooner or later!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, only my OC's.

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Naruto: Alliance of the Ninjas

Chapter 2: Foreigners

The next morning Sakura got up and stretched in her bed. Looking next to her and seeing her forehead protector a knot formed in her stomach. "The Chunin Exams… four days…" Shaking her head Sakura got up and went through her morning routine. Though, something she did differently than normal days was instead of walking around or sitting in her room, she headed out to the academy to get some practice in. She was worried for the Chunin exams and she wasn't sure she was ready for it. She didn't want to be a nuisance and she didn't want to fall behind Sasuke and Naruto.

Heading towards the outdoors training area, Sakura started thinking about the areas she needed to improve on most. _Everything_, Sakura thought to herself sadly. Making a decision she figured she could start with her aim. Pulling out her kunai and shuriken she practiced throwing the weapons at the various targets. Then she tried running and throwing with minimal success. She repeated the process for hours before she was able to hit every target.

"Nice aim."

Without thinking, Sakura whirled around and threw a kunai at whomever it was that was behind her. The girl behind her pulled out her own kunai just in time to deflect the weapon that would've hit her in the face. "Whoa!" The girl, Sakura noticed, wasn't from the village. She had long red hair with her bangs sweeping across her forehead and a bit over her eyebrow, almost covering her bright blue eyes. She wore tight red shorts, her kunai and shuriken holder on her right thigh on top of some bandaging, black sandals, black leather gloves, a black top with red outlines and her forehead protector hanging from her neck. The forehead protector showed that she was from the Hidden Rain Village.

"I'm sorry about that," Sakura apologized immediately.

The girl shrugged as she picked up Sakura's kunai and walked it back over to her. "No, it's my fault! I shouldn't have snuck up on you like that! Nice aim you got, though," the girl smiled.

Sakura took the kunai and put it away before sighing. "So far that's about the only thing I've been good at."

"Hey, don't get down on yourself. Everyone's got something they're not good at, right? I'm Ayame, by the way. From the Hidden Rain Village," Ayame said sticking out her hand with a large smile on her face. Sakura, deciding that the girl seemed like a genuinely kind person, shook her hand and smiled as well.

"Sakura of the Hidden Leaf Village."

Ayame smiled. "Well Sakura, what are you doing out here by yourself?"

"I'm trying to get some practice in before the Chunin exams," Sakura admitted, getting ready to aim at some more targets.

"Well, in my experience, I find that the trees normally don't hit back," Ayame giggled. Sakura frowned in confusion. "C'mon, why don't you and I give it ago?"

Sakura's eyes widened. "Fight you? But we're from two different villages. Fighting before the exams would cause trouble."

Ayame pouted. "Aw, c'mon; it'll just be a friendly little spar. After all, you want practice and I need something to do besides walking around aimlessly. What do you say? Please?" Ayame pleaded, placing both hands in front of her face in a childish manner.

Sakura paused for a second. _Kakashi-sensei told us not to fight anyone from a different village… it could cause a rift in relations between our neighboring villages and possibly start a war if it gets ugly enough. But on the other hand, she's offering to help me practice and I don't want to be a nuisance to Sasuke and Naruto…_ After pondering for another second, Sakura grinned.

"Well, I _do_ need practice in hand-to-hand."

Ayame beamed.

* * *

This was the pattern that continued on for the following three days. Sakura would get up, get ready, head to the academy and meet up with Ayame for training. The two would take breaks to talk about things like their different villages and teams, have some snacks and go back to work. It was on the day right before the exam that Ayame decided to ask a question that had been on her mind since day one. "Sakura?" Ayame asked just after they finished a round of hand-to-hand.

"Yeah, Ayame? What's up?" Sakura asked as she took a bite of her sandwich that she packed before heading out.

"Why aren't you training with your team? You talk about them a lot, but why don't you train with them?" Ayame asked curiously.

Sakura paused in her eating as she thought about her team. _I haven't seen Naruto or Sasuke since meeting with Kakashi-sensei. I wonder what they've been up to. Probably trying to get stronger before tomorrow. They shouldn't have anything to worry about though. After all, I'm the weak one of the group. I'm __**worse**__ than Naruto…_ Sakura thought to herself, replaying what Sasuke said in her head. Remembering that Ayame was waiting for a response, Sakura shrugged. "They're… out of my league. I'd just slow them down."

Ayame frowned. "No you wouldn't Sakura; you shouldn't put yourself down like that! Though I haven't known you long, I can tell you're a great ninja and you've progressed a lot in three days! You're a fast learner and you're a good ninja! You'll do great!"

"You really think so?" Sakura asked.

Ayame smiled. "I know so."

Sakura beamed. "Thanks Ayame, that means a lot to me. So what about you? Why aren't you with your teammates?"

Ayame's smile melted a way at that question and folded her arms over her knees to rest her head, staring off distantly. "My team… my team is like a family but they treat me as if I'm a child. They're constantly looking out for me and getting me out of trouble. I don't like feeling like I'm a child… like I serve no other purpose than to be protected and watched over like some gem. Even though I'm the youngest and I'm… I can fight for myself… and these exams are going to be my chance to prove it!"

"Huh… so we're in the same boat looks like," Sakura pointed out before she started laughing. Ayame blinked in confusion before she started laughing too. The two girls just laughed for a few moments before their laughter died down into giggles and they became silent.

"Hey… Sakura?" Ayame spoke up. Sakura turned to look at her companion and saw that Ayame looked embarrassed about something. "I just… I really want to thank you… you're the first friend I've made in a long time. Thanks for that."

Sakura smiled. "No problem. Hey, why don't we make a promise? That no matter what happens during these exams, no matter who wins or who loses; let's promise that we'll still be friends at the end of it," Sakura said extending her pinky.

Ayame beamed and wrapped her pinky around Sakura's. "And let's promise that we'll look out for each other during the exams and that we'll do our very best to pass!"

"Promise!" The two girls said in unison.

Sakura laughed. "Now let's get back to practice! This is the last day before the Chunin exams!"

"Alright! We're gonna rock these tests!"

* * *

"Damn… I always get lost on the way back," Ayame pouted as she walked through the streets of the Leaf Village. She had just finished training with Sakura before they both said goodbye and headed back to their homes. Well… Sakura went home. Ayame started to head back to the apartments that were being used by all the travelling Genin. And it just happened to be in the middle of the village. And Ayame just happened to be directionally challenged.

Instead of wandering around and getting even more lost—which already happened two days prior, resulting in her team being sent out to retrieve her—Ayame decided to go with the safest idea and start asking around. Surely someone who lived in the Leaf Village would be able to help her out. Resolving herself to ask the first person she came across, she suddenly realized that she was on a quite deserted street. "Aw man… can't I catch a break?" Hearing the sound of footsteps she turned and saw a boy walking towards her. He had red hair and a gourd on his back. Thanking her lucky stars, Ayame waved to him. "Excuse me! Do you know where the Genin housing for foreign villagers is?"

The boy looked at her briefly before nodding once, a look of indifference and mild annoyance on his face. "Yes."

"Can you point me in the right direction?" Ayame asked hopefully before she noticed the forehead protector on the strap of his gourd. He was from the Sand Village. "Oh, you're a foreign Genin too? Are you headed back to the housing?"

"Yes," the boy responded again as he neared.

"Do you mind if I walk with you?"

The boy paused his walking when he was right next to her and turned to stare at her with his piercing green eyes outlined with black markings. Ayame blushed a bit under his gaze and took notice of the 'love' kanji on his head. He continued to stare at her, as if trying to figure something out, before nodding. "I don't mind." With that said he continued walking. Ayame smiled before rushing to catch up with him and falling in step beside him.

"Thanks, I owe you one. My name's Ayame of the Hidden Rain Village."

"I am Gaara of the Desert."

"Nice to meet you, Gaara," Ayame said with a genuine smile on her face. Gaara looked at with an emotionless look but on the inside he was completely confused. He'd never heard anyone say that to him. No one ever even talked to him in his village besides Kankuro and Temari and the teachers out of the academy. And even when the teachers did talk all of the times they talked to him it was with fear. Even the Leaf Genin he had encountered earlier seemed anxious around him and they didn't even know his reputation. And this girl—this girl who was all by herself in a dark alley, who should've been the most cautious and fearful—was talking to him… was being kind to him. "So, you nervous for the exams?" Ayame asked looking up at Gaara. Gaara, still trying to hide his surprise at the fact that this girl was being friendly towards him, shook his head.

Ayame smiled. "Really? I am. I want to make sure that I do well and that I don't do anything stupid to get myself or others killed. I can tell you're strong though, so you shouldn't have anything to worry about, huh?"

Again Gaara was shocked. _She can tell I'm strong? Can she tell the full extent of what I'm capable of? Surely she can't or else she wouldn't be talking to me so kindly… would she? _

"Oh! There's the housing!"

Gaara looked forward to see she was right. Ayame smiled. "Thanks a lot for walking with me, Gaara! I really appreciate it! I hope to see you at the exams!" Ayame said waving at the red-head. "See you tomorrow!" With that Ayame ran into the apartment complex. Gaara stood rooted to his spot on the street and pondered about what just happened. He had never experienced that before with anyone. He never experienced being treated as a normal human being. Watching her form disappear into the building Gaara's lips curved up the most minute fraction of a bit before it disappeared from his face.

_Ayame of the Hidden Rain Village… interesting. I'll have to keep an eye on her…_

* * *

Ayame opened the door to the apartment slowly and started removing her shoes as quietly as possible. All the lights were off so maybe Chiaki, Yumi, and Emiko-sensei were asleep…

"And where have you been?"

…or not.

Ayame closed the door as the lights flicked on revealing her two teammates and her sensei. The girl closest to her was wearing a black skirt, a white cut-off top with red trimmings, black leather gloves and was currently barefoot. Her blonde hair was in its usual braid cascading down to her lower back with her forehead protector tied around her waist. Next to her was a girl wearing a short white and red dress with slits up the side going up to her hips, showing her black spandex shorts underneath and black leather gloves. Her long chestnut hair was up in a bun and her forehead protector was tied on top of her hair. The tallest woman in the back was wearing black spandex pants, a red flowing top that went down to her mid thighs with her Jounin vest opened slightly. Her raven hair was up in a long ponytail and her forehead protector was tied across her forehead. "Hey guys?"

All three girls didn't look happy.

"Where have you been?" The brown haired girl asked with her hands on her hips.

"I was training, Yumi, just like I told you guys I would be," Ayame said as she walked farther into the room.

"You've been gone all day," the blonde pointed out with her arms crossed.

"I lost track of time, Chiaki."

"Yes, but I told you to check in," the raven haired woman spoke up.

Ayame sighed and bowed slightly. "My apologies, Emiko-sensei."

Emiko stepped forward and hit Ayame on the top of her head. The girl crouched on the ground and held her head in pain while Yumi and Chiaki both jumped to cower comically behind the couch in fear of Emiko lashing out at them for some reason. "What do you mean 'my apologies'?! You shouldn't have disobeyed me in the first place! Now off to bed, you've got a big day ahead of you! You all do!"

"Yes sensei!"


	3. Enter Rock Lee!

A/N: Hey everybody! Just letting you know I've been home for the past few days (illnesses and such) which is why I've been able to have back to back updates, but I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up the pace I've set as classes go on, so please try to bare with me! I have prewritten scenes already done, so I should still be able to update pretty frequently. Also, I had an idea I wanted to run by you guys! This story isn't going to really be that long (it's going to go through the Chunin Exams arc, an arc I create myself, have a bit of fillers and then jump to the Shippuden as a sort of epilogue) so I was wondering if you guys would like me to write an AU story (in this section of course) where all the ninjas we know and love are in High School! I know there are a lot of stories like that out here, but I would change some things around and add some stuff I think you guys would like! But it's up to you! It would incorporate mainly the same pairings in this story, and use the same OC's. It's up to you though! If you like the idea please let me know by reviewing or PM-ing! Anyway, enjoy this chapter! It's a lot longer than the others!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, only my OC's.

* * *

Naruto: Alliance of the Ninjas

Chapter 3: Enter Rock Lee!

It was the day of the exams finally and all of the Genin were assembled at the Academy. They were all chattering excitedly as they entered, anxious for the exams to get underway. Unfortunately for Team 7, they were waiting for one more teammate. Sasuke and Naruto stood outside as other Genin poured in, waiting for Sakura to show up.

Naruto was babbling on about how he was going to pass the exams easy and how he was going to become Hokage and even something about getting girls, but Sasuke paid him no mind. His focus was on their pink-haired teammate and her absence. _Where could she be? She's never late. She's always early or on-time, never late. Could something have happened? I haven't seen her in four days… the last time I saw her was when those Sand Village Genin grabbed Konohamaru. Could something have-_ Sauske's eyes widened when he remembered how Kankuro had referred to Sakura as 'cutie' and seemed to take an interest in her. His heart skipped a beat as he turned towards the—still—babbling Naruto. "Hey, idiot. When was the last time you saw Sakura?"

"Sakura?" Naruto asked in confusion. "I haven't seen her since the scuffle with the Sand ninja, why?"

Sasuke clenched his hand into a fist as he started scanning the area, hopping to see the pink hair he'd become so used to seeing. _C'mon Sakura… where are you?_

"Oh hey Sakura! You're late!"

Sasuke immediately whipped around to see Sakura walking up to the two of them. He let out a sigh of relief upon seeing her. She didn't look to be harmed or injured, but something about her was _wrong_. She wasn't responding to any of Naruto's smart remarks like she usually would, and she didn't even look at him. Instead she scanned the area as if looking for someone or else she had her eyes averted. It seemed as if her confidence was down, and Sasuke wanted to know why. But he couldn't ask her here. No, Naruto was far too loud to ask that sort of question in front of him, and it might throw off Sakura for the exams. He'd wait for the right opportunity to ask her. "Come on, let's all go inside," Sasuke spoke up. Naruto and Sakura nodded and followed him in. The two headed up the stairs before pausing when it said 3rd Floor right by the door.

Sasuke and Sakura both narrowed their eyes simultaneously. "Let's go," Sasuke spoke up as they walked through the door. The noticed a large group of Genin all huddled around one door where two others Genin were standing, blocking the way. They had just hit back a boy dressed in a green jumpsuit with a bowl cut. A girl with a bun on either side of her head bent down to check on him quickly.

"Please, let us through, we're supposed to go in there," the girl said before walking forward, only to get hit across the face by one of the two boys, falling back next to her friend.

"Whoa, way to be harsh!" A guy from the crowd called out.

"Did you say harsh?" One of the boys asked before scoffing. "Don't kid yourself; we're being nice by comparison. The exams are gonna make this feel like a picnic."

The other boy laughed. "Some of you won't survive the exam, others will be wrecked for life, and some of you may go crazy. For Chunin it's always life or death. You think this is a joke? Chunin are qualified to lead missions, so the lives of your squad are in your hands. You better be tough enough to take the heat. Delicate little girls don't belong here."

Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura walked up to them, without hesitation. "That's a nice speech, now move aside and let us through. And while you're at it, reverse the Genjutsu we can see through your illusion anyway. We're going to the third floor."

"What does he mean?"

"We're on the third floor."

"I don't know what he's talking about."

Sasuke wanted to roll his eyes at the responses he heard behind him, but chose not to. He noticed, however, that Sakura didn't seem to be paying attention at all and was looking a bit lost in space. Deciding that he would try and bring her back to what was happening he turned to her with a smile. "Go ahead Sakura, tell them. I'm sure you were the first one to notice. After all, you've got the best eyes and analytical skills on our squad, you must've seen this coming a mile away."

Sasuke noticed Sakura snap up and look around in confusion before nodding. "Of course, I spotted it right away. This is only the second floor, but you just used Genjutsu to shorten the length of the stairs in the stairwell to make it seem as if we were on the third."

"Right!" Naruto agreed.

Immediately the sign above the door changed to '201' instead of '301' catching everyone else by surprise. One of the boys scoffed. "Well aren't you a smart little Barbie doll. So you noticed an illusion. Now let's see you deal with this!" The boy spun around and aimed a kick towards Sakura. Sasuke's eyes widened as he jumped in front of the girl and aimed his own kick at the boy. Before it connected however, it was caught by the rapid movement of the boy in the green jumpsuit.

_How'd he do that?_ Sakura thought to herself in surprise. _I thought he was just some weakling getting knocked around, but he's as fast as Sasuke._

The girl he was with and a boy with long hair and nearly white eyes walked forward, the boy speaking. "Hey, what happened to 'not showing our skills'? That was your idea after all."

"I know Neji, but-"

"Never mind, it's okay," the girl said shaking her head.

Sasuke frowned as he looked at the green clad boy. _His bruises are completely gone. Were they fake? And what is he looking at so intently?_ Sasuke thought before he followed the boys line of sight. As soon as it clicked his eyebrow twitched. _Oh, hell no._

The boy walked right past him and walked towards Sakura. "My name is Rock Lee. You are Sakura, right?" Lee asked.

Sakura blinked in confusion before nodding. "Uh, yeah that's me."

"Please be my girlfriend!" Lee said with a smile and a thumbs up, a light blush creeping under his cheeks. "I vow to protect you with my life!"

Sakura blushed in embarrassment at the statement. Naruto looked amused, and Sasuke's eyebrow was twitching once again as he approached Lee, a fist clenched. "Uh… no…" Sakura finally responded.

Lee looked crushed. "Why not?"

"Cause you're a weirdo…"

Naruto burst out laughing. Sasuke halted his approach and had to fight off a small grin.

"Hey you! What's your name?"

Sasuke turned and saw the boy who was just talking to Lee. He narrowed his eyes a bit. "It's common courtesy to give your name first before asking for someone else's."

"You're a rookie aren't you? How old are you anyway?"

"I'm not obliged to answer."

"What was that?" The boy glared.

"Naruto, Sasuke," Sakura called out, gaining both boys attention. "C'mon let's go."

Sasuke nodded while Naruto continued sulking, mumbling something about how no one wanted to know his name. The female of the group grabbed the hand of both boys, neither of them complaining, only Sasuke who complained about being pulled. Sakura only let go of their hands when they were down a different hallway and headed up the stairs, assured that neither of the boys would start anything. They continued walking through a deserted training hall when they heard a voice.

"Hey you, with the attitude. Hold on."

The three turned only to see Lee standing on the upper level of the training room above them. Naruto looked curious, Sakura winced, and Sasuke looked uninterested. "What do you want?"

"I want to fight. Right here and now."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Right here and now, huh?"

"Yes," Lee said before jumping over the railing and landing in front of them. "My name is Rock Lee. You said it is common courtesy for a challenger to give his name, right? Sasuke Uchiha."

"So you know about me?"

"I want to challenge you. I've always heard of the Uchiha Clan and how great they are and I want to see firsthand if it is true. You should be a good challenge for me. And also…" Lee trailed off as he turned his attention towards Sakura. "Oh Sakura… I love you! You are an angel sent from the heavens! Please reconsider your decision!" Sakura looked shocked and about to say something, but she never got the chance.

"The lady said 'no'."

Everyone turned in shock to look at Sasuke, who had been the one to speak up for the pink-haired girl. Lee frowned at the Uchiha. "This is none of your concern."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "It becomes my concern when you continue to harass her. You must be psycho. Challenging me knowing I'm an Uchiha _and_ having the audacity of harassing Sakura while I'm around."

"Sasuke…" Sakura spoke in surprise at him defending her.

"It's a fight you want right? You want to learn more about my clan, right? Then I'll teach you… the hard way," Sasuke said threateningly.

"Hold up! I got this guy first," Naruto spoke up.

Sasuke shrugged, not really caring. "Go for it then."

"No thank you, right now the only one I want to fight is Uchiha," Lee said.

"Well, I got news for you, Sasuke doesn't even compare to me!" Sasuke rolled his eyes as Naruto shouted that and charged forward, but said nothing. Naruto charged forward and aimed a punch at Lee, only to have him merely deflect his punch with two fingers. Naruto quickly placed his hands on the ground and attempted to kick him in the head but Lee merely ducked underneath it.

"Leaf Whirlwind!" Lee shouted before kicking out Naruto's arm, causing him to spin on his back straight into the wall and black out.

_Whoa… he's better than he looks,_ Sakura thought to herself.

Lee turned to look at Sasuke again. "Face it, you cannot beat me. Your skills are inferior. You see out of all the top Leaf Genin I am the best. Fight me and I will prove it to you."

Sasuke looked at Lee before smirking. "Why not? This should be fun."

Looking at the clock, Sakura shook her head. "Sasuke we don't have enough time! We need to register by three and that's less than half an hour."

"Don't worry Sakura," Sasuke said smirking. "This'll all be over in five seconds!" Like Naruto, Sasuke charged forward, aiming a punch at Lee only to be shocked as he disappeared from sight. Turning he saw Lee in the air preparing to kick at Sasuke's head.

"Leaf Hurricane!"

Sasuke ducked underneath it, but Lee landed on the ground and used his hands to twist his body around, giving him momentum to spin around to kick again. _I'm not moving fast enough_, Sasuke thought, shocked by Lee's speed. _I've got to block!_ Sasuke moved his arms up to block but was surprised as he saw Lee bring up two fingers in front of his face. In a flash Lee kicked Sasuke in the face, by passing his block and sending him into the air and crashing onto the ground. _What jutsu is he using to get to me? Is it Ninjutsu or Genjutsu?_ Sasuke thought as he pushed himself up from the ground. He wiped his chin and smirked.

"I've been waiting to try this out…"

Sakura looked on in confusion before her eyes filled with realization. _Could it be?_ Sasuke looked up revealing his red eyes with two black swirls in them. _The Sharingan! When did he learn that? It's in both of his eyes! Now Sasuke will be able to read this guy's jutsu and nail him!_

Sasuke smirked again before taking off, heading for Lee with confidence. However his confidence was soon cut down as Lee managed to get by his guard once again and kick Sasuke in the chin, sending him into the air. "You see, my technique incorporates nether Ninjutsu or Genjutsu." Lee shot forward and started engaging Sasuke in hand to hand, managing to get a kick to the side of the face and an elbow to the his ribs. "Do you get it now?" Lee asked. "I am using Taijutsu which means no tricks. It's just martial arts."

Sasuke growled and tried to hit Lee in the chin but the boy jumped out of the way. "I know what you can do and it won't work on me. Forget it. Your Sharingan allows you to see through an opponent's jutsu. You can see their chakra, and decipher his hand signs. You can anticipate his moves even before he makes it. The problem is, Taijutsu is a little bit different."

Sasuke glared. "Yeah, what's your point?"

"I don't try to hide my moves. I do not need to. Even if you can see my moves you cannot stop them. You are too slow. Your eyes may be quick enough to stay one step ahead of me, but if your body cannot, what good does that do you?" Sasuke growled but Lee didn't seem to be done. "You know what I think? There are two ninja in this world. Those like you who are born with talent and don't have to work for success, and those like me… the ones who have to work every day of their lives! You're Sharingan is the worst match for my extreme Taijutsu!" Sasuke could tell that Lee was getting ready to kick him once more, but his body was too slow to block. He ended up getting kicked in the face once again and getting sent into the air. Sasuke narrowed his eyes when he saw Lee in the air directly underneath him.

"Dancing Leaf Shadow," Sasuke accused.

"Good eye. Now I will prove my point," Lee said as his arm bandages unraveled. "That hard work beats out natural talent!" Before anything could happen, however, a needle with a pinwheel on it flew out from nowhere and pinned Lee's bandage to the wall. While everyone else looked shocked, Lee winced. "This is bad…"

"Alright that's enough!"

Everyone turned and saw… a turtle?

Lee got yanked back due to his bandage being pinned while Sasuke continued to fly through the air, heading towards the ground. "Sasuke!" Sakura shouted before running over and sliding underneath him in time to catch him, lessening the fall. Lee however, kneeled in front of the turtle in embarrassment. Naruto, who had just come to, looked around in shock. Surprised that Sasuke looked as beaten up as he did and how he hadn't even taken the fall right, causing Sakura to have to save him.

"You were watching us this whole time?" Lee asked.

"Of course I was! That last technique is forbidden, you know that!" The turtle yelled at him.

Naruto looked confused. _He's talking to a turtle… and it's talking back…_

"I'm sorry…"

_And now he's apologizing to a turtle… wait? Could that be his sensei? Can turtles even __**be**__ a sensei? _

The turtle glared and Lee winced, starting to rapidly apologize. "I was not planning on using the forbidden technique. It is just… I was in the middle of the fight and… you understand? I didn't intend on it happening it's just-"

"You're seeing this too, right?" Sakura asked Sasuke making sure she wasn't going crazy. At his nod, Sakura felt confident that her sanity was still intact.

"Hey guys!" Naruto called out running towards them. "That thing he's talking to is a turtle, right?"

"Obviously, what did you think it was?" Sakura questioned.

"Well then maybe that means that turtle can become sensei too!"

Sasuke looked over at Naruto to see if he was really serious. "Should I have Sakura slap you now or later for that idiotic comment?"

"You're a disgrace!" Everyone turned to see the turtle yelling at Lee. "You think you're going to get away with excuses like that? A Shinobi never reveals his techniques unless it's absolutely necessary! It's such a basic rule; you should know it by now! Are you ready to face the consequences of your actions?"

Lee looked upset. "Yes."

"Alright, please come out Guy-sensei!"

A white cloud exploded on the turtle's back and out appeared a man who was dressed nearly identically to Lee except that he was much taller, clearly older, had a Jounin vest and looked far more flamboyant. "Hey there everybody! What's shaking? How's life treating you?"

The Team 7 trio merely stared in shock, confusion, and slightly disturbed.

Naruto started laughing. "So that's where Lee gets it from! Same soup bowl haircut and even bushier eyebrows!"

"Do not insult Guy-sensei!" Lee shouted back. "He is one of the greatest men who ever lived!"

"Well excuse me for not noticing his greatness! I was too busy watching him crawl out from under a turtle!"

"He did not _crawl_ out!"

"Give it a rest, Lee," Guy called out to his pupil. Lee nodded and turned around obediently. "And now for your punishment!" Guy reeled back and punched Lee in the face sending him flying backwards, much to the shock of the others in the room. Guy walked forward towards Lee and crouched on one knee. "I'm sorry Lee, but it was for your own good," Guy said sounding a bit choked up.

"S-Sensei…" Lee sniffled.

"Oh Lee…"

"I'm so sorry Sensei!"

Comical looking tears poured down from each of their faces causing Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke to look on in a disturbed fascination.

"It's okay Lee, it's all over now!"

"Sensei!" Lee said before hugging his sensei.

"Who's up for sneaking away and pretending we never saw this?" Sasuke whispered to the others.

"I'm in," Sakura nodded.

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know. It's all sweet how they're hugging like that."

Sakura and Sasuke both looked at him as if he was an idiot.

"What?"

"It's okay Lee! It's only a phase! Too old to be called a boy, but not old enough to be called a man," Guy carried on, comical tears still present. Even the turtle had the tears.

"You're so good to me sensei!"

"Now go! I want you to give me 100 laps around the practice track; show me what you got! Go! Run into the setting sun! But don't mess up your hair! Let us be off!" Guy said dramatically.

Naruto looked confused. "Whoa, wait! We're not done here! You can't just walk away like that!"

"And what about the Chunin exams? There's no time for that," Sakura pointed out.

Guy blushed and cleared his throat. "Oh right, I had forgotten about that. Lee, not only did you disobey the no fighting rule, you disrupted the Chunin exams, that deserves a slightly more severe punishment. How does _500_ laps sound?"

"I will do it with pride!"

"…they're insane," Sakura concluded.

Naruto nodded. "I'm still confused by the turtle."

"Hey! You three!" Guy called out. "How is Kakashi-sensei?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Do you know him?"

"Do I know him? Some say me and Kakashi will be arch-rivals for all eternity!"

Naruto and Sakura snorted. "Doubt it!"

"How dare you! If Guy-sensei say's it's true then-" Lee started his rant but Guy shook his head.

"Let it slide Lee! Actions speak louder than words," Guy said before disappearing in the blink of an eye. The three members of Team 7 all flinched when they felt his presence behind them. "My record is 50 wins and 49 loses. Which is one better than him, by the way."

"How did you beat Kakashi?" Naruto asked in shock.

Guy smirked. "I'm stronger than Kakashi, and faster."

"Now, was Kakashi even competing during these competitions?" Sasuke asked. "If you haven't noticed he takes a pretty lax approach on everything."

Guy blinked. "Hm… hadn't actually thought about that."

Team 7 sweat-dropped.

"Anyway, I am sorry for the trouble Lee caused you. Look into my eyes and accept my sincerest apologies. Also notice my handsome manly features."

"Rather not, thanks."

Guy fell to the ground anime-style before recovering and clearing his throat. "Lee you should accompany these fine ninja to the classroom, right now!" He threw a kunai that hit the pinwheel needle out of the wall, allowing Lee to wrap of the bandages around his bruised and bloody hands. With that, Guy disappeared along with the turtle.

As soon as he was gone Lee turned to Sasuke. "Sasuke, I wasn't completely honest with you earlier. I wanted to test my skills, that was true, but you were not the one I wanted to test them on. I lied when I said I was the top Genin here, there is another better even on my own squad. It is him I wish to face, and I used you as practice. But now you are a target, for your abilities and for the fact that you have interfered in my path of wooing the fair Sakura. I will crush you. You have been warned." With that Lee jumped back up to the balcony and headed towards the classroom.

"Next time, I'll drive him to his knees," Sasuke seethed.

Naruto snorted. "Doubt it. Did you see his hands? I bet Bushy-Brows trains' day in and day out until he drops. He trains harder than you."

Sasuke pondered that before he unclenched his hand before tightening it again. "Well then, this thing is getting interesting. The Chunin exams… can't wait to see what's next. Let's get started! Naruto! Sakura!"

The two nodded as they walked towards the room where the exam was going to be taking place. As they entered the long hallway, they were surprised to see Kakashi standing there, waiting for them. "Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura called out in surprise.

"Hey there," Kakashi waved. "I'm here to give you some last minute advice. One, I'm proud of you all for deciding to take this exam and I'm confident you will all do well. Two, whatever Guy just told you was probably largely exaggerated. Three, yes I know what just happened. Four, yes I knew what you were all thinking." Kakashi smiled at their confused and bewildered expressions as he accurately guessed what they were thinking. "Mainly, I just want you to remember your training. Look out for each other and do your very best. I know you will do great."

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto thanked. "We won't let you down!"

Sasuke smirked. "Well, Sakura and I won't at least."

"Hey! What is that supposed to mean?!"

Kakashi shook his head as he laughed at his team of young Genin. "Alright, off you three go! Don't want to be late, do you?" With that Kakashi opened the door and pushed the three in before closing it once more. Kakashi sighed as he closed the door behind them. "Now… why don't I feel as confident as I sounded?"

"Nerves get the best of us."

Kakashi turned his head to look at the arrival of an unfamiliar Jounin. She was attractive, with long raven hair, a curvy figure and beautiful jade eyes. From the forehead protector Kakashi deduced she was from the Hidden Rain Village. "You're here with your squad?" Kakashi guessed as she walked over to him and leaned against the wall opposite him.

"Yup," she said popping the 'p'. She waved a bit. "Name's Emiko."

"Kakashi."

"So, those brats yours?" Emiko asked gesturing towards the doors. "Interesting looking bunch."

Kakashi smiled under his mask. "Yes, well I've grown rather attached to them."

"Obviously, seeing as you're here instead of in the staff room like the other Jounin who bothered to show up," Emiko snorted, as she got annoyed by the fact that while Jounin were allowed to come watch their teams, practically none came. It bothered her that there was little to no support for some of the Genin competing, even if they had more experience.

Kakashi narrowed his visible eye in curiosity. "Which is why I assume you are here? To look after your squad?"

Emiko shrugged and raised a leg to lean back against the wall. "You can say that. It's more along the lines that I know my girls, and that they can get into a shit-load of trouble in a blink of an eye."

"Girls?" Kakashi questioned. "An all-female squad?"

"Yup."

"Interesting…"

"Not the adjective I'd use, but it works," Emiko laughed. "So, I'm pretty sure this is gonna be a long wait. There any decent places to eat around here?"

"There are lots of places. I'd be happy to show them to you."

"Well aren't you a gentlemen?" Emiko smirked. Kakashi laughed.

"Not the adjective I'd use, but I'll take it."


	4. Stage One! The Written Exam!

A/N: Hey guys! I'm so excited to start getting out more and more of these chapters, because I've just finished writing one that got me really pumped! Oh and by the way, as I'm writing this story I'm going to be changing some scenarios and some scenes and one thing I'm going to do is make Sakura a bit more of a badass. I honestly love her as a character but she had so much potential and I wanted to see that showcased a lot more! Naruto and Sasuke all had their moments, and I wanted Sakura to have her time to shine too! So she'll have some more awesome moments, and other things shall be changed too! Oh and this chapter is the written part of the exam! Hope you all like it! **And please let me know your opinions if you want me to write a high school Naruto story after this one!**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, only my OC's.

* * *

Naruto: Alliance of the Ninjas

Chapter 4: Stage One! The Written Exam!

"I'm so pumped for this! I'm ready to kick some ass!" Chiaki cheered as she hung out with Ayame and Yumi near the back of the room, not caring about the other Genin glaring at her. She was the type of person who just didn't give a damn. And she knew she could handle herself; after all she was trained by the best. Yumi, while she knew she would be able to handle just about any situation, still preferred it if Chiaki wouldn't go running her mouth. She had wanted to stay under the radar.

Yumi shook her head and laughed. "You always had the biggest mouth. Don't you ever consider how your actions will reflect on us?"

"Not really, no."

Ayame laughed. "She's just confident, Yumi!"

"And how about you?" Yumi questioned. She looked at Ayame in concern, knowing that Ayame was just a rookie. It was her very first year being a Genin, while she and Chiaki already had a year of missions and experience under their belts. Of course she knew Ayame was strong, and fully capable of taking care of herself, but with her being the youngest, she and Chiaki tended to go all 'mother-bear-protecting-it's-cub' when it came to the red-head.

"I'm excited to get started!" Ayame smiled as she started scanning the room. Yumi was just about to ask what she was looking for when Ayame beamed and started tugging on her shirt excitedly. "There! That's the really nice guy who walked me back yesterday!"

"Who?" Chiaki asked, budding into their conversation and noticing a group of rookies by the door. She was curious as to who were the two people that Ayame had been going on about since yesterday. After Emiko had sent them to bed, Ayame had stayed up telling the two girls about her day, gushing about a sweet girl named Sakura who she had been training with and some nice guy with red hair who walked her home. So of course that made her and Yumi curious as to who could make their little princess spaz out more than normal.

"Right there!"

Yumi and Chiaki followed where Ayame was pointing and both paled. Ayame was pointing directly at the three Sand ninja they had been apprehensive of. They looked annoyed at having to be waiting and as if they wouldn't take crap from anyone. The girl looked like she wanted to be anywhere else then there, the boy that was dressed in black—and looked vaguely like a cat—seemed to be sizing up people, and the red-head boy—whom Chiaki and Yumi were positive was the boy Ayame was talking about—looked as if he was ready to kill the first person who so much as coughed near him. "Uh… him?"

"Yup!" Ayame beamed. "I'm gonna go say 'hi'!"

"No, Ayame wait—" Yumi tried to stop her friend, but Ayame was already off. She shook her head and nudged Chiaki. "Let's go get her before she does something stupid."

* * *

"Not much competition for us, huh?" Kankuro asked looking around the room.

Temari shrugged. "Doesn't look like it."

Gaara of course said nothing and continued to scan the room. Not that his brother or sister expected him to respond. They were used to his silence… and his indifference… and his standoffishness… and his over-all scariness… to put it simply, they were just used to Gaara. Not everyone in the room was used to him, however, seeing as people started trying to avoid him like the black plague. They seemed to notice the aura of 'I will kill you without hesitation' and smartly backed away. Temari and Kankuro had to fight off laughing. They were always amused by how frightened others were of Gaara. Of course they were a bit cautious of getting him mad of too, but that was beside the point.

"Hey Gaara!" The two older sand siblings shared a shocked look before they turned towards the source of the noise and saw a perky looking girl with red hair and blue eyes walking up to them, smiling and waving at their younger brother, with two girls trailing behind her, trying to persuade her to walk away. Gaara, to his credit, only let a small widening of his eyes signify his shock. "I was looking for you! I wanted to thank you again for walking me home last night. It was really nice of you! And I wanted to say good luck on the exams! I hope you do well!"

Gaara blinked in confusion. He had brushed off what last night as a desperate girl merely trying to make conversation with the person who had saved her from wandering around for hours. He figured that it would all be forgotten and that Ayame wouldn't even acknowledge his existence. After all, no one was so kind to him. Yet, here she was again, thanking him once more and even wishing him luck again. She had been looking for him. She said she wanted him to do well… no one really everyone said that to him. No one had even implied that they wanted him to survive let alone succeed. Gaara let his lips curve up a small fraction, just as it had last night, and nodded. "Good luck."

Temari and Kankuro looked shocked that Gaara had actually wished the girl luck.

Ayame beamed. "Thanks!"

"Alright, we should be going now," Yumi said, grabbing a hold of Ayame's arm and pulling her away.

"Aw! But I wanted to talk to Gaara some more!" Ayame whined as she and Chiaki each grabbed one of her arms and all but dragged her away. Gaara, hearing that the girl wanted to talk to him some more, let his lips curve up a bit more. It still wasn't completely a smile, but it was more progress than he had made in years.

Kankuro blinked as he looked between the red-head being dragged away and his own red-head younger brother. "When did you make a friend?"

Gaara glared.

* * *

"Hey! Look at what the cat dragged in!" Kiba greeted as Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were pushed into the room. Hinata, Shino, Ino, Shikamaru and Choji were all hanging out by the door. All of the rookies seemed to be hanging back since everyone else in the room were either not rookies or not people that seemed particularly friendly. "Bout time you guys showed up," Kiba smirked.

"We got a little caught up," Sasuke responded easy enough casting a glance towards Lee who was seated a few rows away from the door.

"You guys ready for the test?" Shikamaru questioned.

Naruto grinned. "I am!"

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you."

The group of rookies turned and saw a boy with silver hair, glasses, and a Leaf Village headband walk up to them. "I hear this group is supposed to be tougher than most years and this exam is grueling. My name is Kabuto."

"Kabuto, huh? What do you know about these exams?" Shino questioned.

Kabuto shrugged. "Lots. Seeing as this is my seventh year talking this test." All the rookies gasped. "Yeah, there are some pretty strong guys this year. Wanna see?" They nodded. Kabuto pulled out a stack of blank cards and placed them on the floor. Taking an individual one he charged it with chakra revealing a picture of Lee. "He's one of the favorites this year for the Leaf village. He's got amazing skills in Taijutsu but all other skills are lacking though."

"Can you do that again?" Sasuke asked. "With Gaara of the Desert?"

Kabuto nodded. A picture of Gaara appeared. "Huh… not much is known on this guy. But get this, he did a B-rank mission without getting even a scratch on him. Without a scratch in _any_ of his missions."

"What?" Choji exclaimed in shock.

Shikamaru's eyes widened. "The dude has done a B-rank mission and hasn't even gotten a scratch?!"

Sakura, who had been oddly silent, cleared her throat. "Try someone named Ayame. From the Hidden Rain Village." Sasuke and Naruto both stared at Sakura in shock. _Ayame? Who is that and how does Sakura know her? _Sasuke thought to himself. _Is she the reason why Sakura has been acting differently?_

"Ayame of the Hidden Rain Village…" Kabuto said, trailing off as he actually read the card. "Whoa… there's no stats on her, but this girl is just a rookie Genin and she's already completed 12 D-rank, 7 C-rank, _2_ B-ranks, and even one A-rank…" Everyone gasped in shock wondering how a rookie Genin could manage to do 22 missions, including 2 B-ranks and an A-rank. It just wasn't heard of. There are some Chunin who haven't even gotten to do an A-rank. And there was also the fact that her missions said something about her teammates. If all the missions were completed successfully that meant that her team had to be strong as a unit, which automatically got all of the other rookies on edge.

"Hey, that's actually a good picture of me!"

The group stiffened before turning in shock, seeing Ayame, Chiaki, and Yumi standing over Kabuto's shoulder. No one had felt them approach or even heard them, so their appearance was shocking to say the least. Ayame looked up from the cards saw her pink-haired friend and squealed. "Sakura!" Ayame smiled running over to her an enveloping her in a hug, shocking all the rookie Genin from the Leaf village as to how Sakura knew such a strong rookie. "I was starting to wonder if you would even show up! Where've you been?"

Sakura smiled. "We got a little caught up, is all. Glad to see you, Ayame."

"A friend of yours?" Sasuke guessed, raising an eyebrow and bringing it to Sakura's attention that they had no idea who she was.

"Oh right! Introductions. Guys this is Ayame and Ayame these are some of my fellow Genin of the Leaf village: Naruto, Sasuke, Choji, Ino, Shikamaru, Kiba, Hinata, and Shino. And this is our new friend Kabuto."

Ayame smiled and waved. "Hi! These are my squad members; Chiaki and Yumi."

"So, why you looking up stuff on our girl here?" Chiaki asked with her arms crossed and a narrowed gaze. Most of the group flinched.

"It's natural to be curious," Ayame shrugged.

"How m-many different v-v-villages are c-competing?" Hinata questioned.

Kabuto pulled out another card. "Leaf, Wind, Rain— "

"Represent!" Chiaki whooped.

Yumi rolled her eyes. "Please ignore her. We try to."

Chiaki glared.

"—Sand, and Sound. The Sound ninja are a complete mystery though. They're from a small little village that recently sprung up."

Suddenly Ayame, Chiaki, and Yumi all stiffened before disappearing from sight just as three Sound ninja appeared and threw kunai at Kabuto. The silver haired boy evaded and even dodged a blow from a man wrapped in bandages on his face excluding one of his eyes. Kabuto smirked but flinched as his glasses shattered and he fell to his knees, emptying the contents of his stomach. "Kabuto!" Naruto and Sakura called out, rushing to help him. All the other Genin turned to watch the fray in curiosity.

"Whoa what happened? He dodged the blow! I saw everything!" Sasuke commented.

"Maybe there was something more to it?" Kiba guessed.

"Must be," Shikamaru agreed.

The Sound Ninja trio laughed. "That's what you get for calling the Sound Village small. We're not ones to be messed with."

"Well, that wasn't very nice, now was it?" Ayame asked with her arms crossed over her chest. "And I don't believe that someone who fights in a three on one battle should be feared all that much if they're not confident with fighting by themselves."

"What?" The boy with spiky blue hair growled.

Ayame was about to open her mouth but Yumi quickly placed a hand over her mouth, making sure the girl didn't say anything else that would worsen the situation. As it was, all of the other Genin in the room were staring at the group. "Keep quiet Ayame," Yumi hissed.

"Yeah! She's right! You guys are nothing but cowards!" Naruto called out, pointing accusingly at the Sound ninja. "You guys are pathetic and are nothing but—" Naruto too was cut off as Sakura jumped the blonde, grabbing him in a headlock to prevent any further comments from escaping his mouth.

Before anything else could happen a white cloud appeared in the front of the room as a man in a black trench coats and scars down his face appeared with several Jounin proctors behind him. Yumi let go of Ayame and Sakura stopped suffocating Naruto to pay attention. "Alright, everyone quiet down and find a seat! I am going to be your proctor for this phase of the test. My name is Ibiki Morino. You are not allowed to sit by your teammates for this test!" There was a collective groan from the rookies before they separated sitting in various empty spots in the room. Hinata sat by Naruto, Chiaki had been forced to sit next to Neji, Yumi was next to Kiba, Ayame was in front of Gaara, and Sasuke was across from Lee.

The Jounin moved so that they were lining the walls, staring at the students. "This test only has ten questions, but these questions, I assure you, are not simple. There are only two rules to this test: do not talk and do not cheat. If you are caught doing either you shall be failed immediately. Your scores will be averaged with that of your teammates and that is how you will know if you pass or fail. You all have 45 minutes," Ibiki announced as the Jounin flashed out of their view and reappeared, surprising the Genin at the fact that each desk now had a test. "BEGIN!"

As soon as everyone had read the first question, there were mixed reactions.

Sakura was confident. Sasuke was confused. Naruto was near tears. Choji had a craving for food due to his stress. Shikamaru wanted to hit his head on a table. Ino winced. Hinata smiled. Shino… well, he was Shino. Kiba buried his face in Akamaru's fur. Yumi seemed un-phased. Ayame seemed bored. Chiaki started doodling, figuring that Yumi and Ayame would do well enough for the three of them.

Within ten minutes, everyone realized that doing the test without cheating would be impossible.

Well, everyone but those who actually knew the answers.

Soon students were being called out left and right to be dismissed after getting caught cheating. Others, however, weren't so obvious with their cheating. Neji had resorted to using his Byakugan to see through people and look at their tests, Chiaki noticed this and scooted a bit closer to the boy and copying covertly, figuring that actual answers were better than doodles. Sasuke used his Sharingan to copy the pencil strokes of the smart kid in front of him. Ten-Ten used wires to move the shades of the light in front of her to see their reflection, and then would adjust it so Lee, who was across from her, could see as well. Kiba had used Akamaru to start scouting out answers, causing Yumi to covertly look at his paper. Shino was using his bugs. Gaara had gotten sand in a student's eye and used his own third eye technique to see the answers, accidentally getting sand on Ayame's paper, causing said girl to look at the ceiling in confusion, thinking that there was something coming from the floor above them. Ino even transferred bodies with Sakura before transferring with both Choji and Shikamaru to give them the answers.

Others had gotten caught, but after half an hour, Ibiki started speaking again. "Alright, it is time for the tenth and final question of the exam. The difference is this question is option. You can choose whether or not you want to take it."

"Whoa wait! What's the catch? Say we don't want to take it!" Temari shouted.

Ibiki smirked. "Simple. You and your entire team fail. But if you choose to answer the question and you get it incorrect then you a barred from ever taking the Chunin exams ever again! Whoever wishes not to take the test, raise their hand now!"

Everyone froze.

After a moment of hesitation someone raised their hand, sputtering apologizes before he and his team got up and were kicked out after their numbers were taken. Almost instantly several hands shot up muttering about how ludicrous it was. The crowd in the room started to thin. Sakura looked over at Sasuke and Naruto. _Sasuke should have no problem but Naruto… he doesn't stand a chance. Go on Naruto, raise your hand, we won't blame you. You have your dream to think of. Raise your hand._ Naruto's hand slowly started to rise. All the rookies in the room turned to stare at the blonde boy in shock before Naruto smacked his hand down on the desk and stood up.

"You're not going to scare me away! Go ahead and try using your scary question and scars to intimidate us, it won't work on me! I'm not going to back down! I don't care if I stay a Genin for the rest of my life; I'm still going to be Hokage someday, even as a Genin! So bring it on!" Naruto demanded with determination in his eyes.

Ibiki raised an eyebrow. "You sure you want to do this? You can still back out now."

"I never go back on my word!"

"Anyone else?" No one moved, as others smirked after Naruto's outburst. Ibiki nodded. "Very well. You all pass."

"…what?"

"You all pass. This exam was purposely created where you had to cheat. The object of the exam was to test you information gathering skills in complete secrecy with success. The final question was a test of your determination and bravery. You have all passed."

Immediately everyone started cheering but it was soon cut off as someone crashed in through the window and a banner appeared within the blink of an eye stating 'STAGE 2 INSTRUCTOR: ANKO'. A woman standing with a fishnet shirt and brown trench coat appeared. "Alright maggots! Now that you've passed this portion, you've got to deal with me! I'm Anko and you're going to wish you never met me by the time this is over."

"You do realize there were several perfectly accessible doors to enter the room, right?" Yumi pointed out.

Anko looked over and glared but said nothing. "All of you meet me at the training field! The Forest of Death!"

"Well that doesn't sound morbid at all."


	5. Genin Talks

**A/N: Hey all, I hope you all are enjoying the story!** **And** **I'm super excited for this story to keep progressing. Like I've already got ideas for a small little series of stories of the adventures with these ninja, and maybe one where it's an AU! I've got a lot of ideas so I'm just really excited and hope you guys like this story! Oh and for those who have a problem with how strong I made my OC's, I assure you it's not because I just want them to be better than everyone else and be all amazing and cool and super special awesome, but it's because of a reason (which I cannot reveal as of yet) that is extremely relevant to the plot, Ayame's backstory, and some future chapters. I will let you all know, however, that Ayame has a very unique Kekkai Genkai which will be revealed later on in this story (which is a Kekkai Genkai which I created) and there is also some special stuff about her. Yumi and Chiaki and Emiko, likewise, have backstories which are important to the plot, but just making sure you guys all know that they're not going to be all invincible and high and mighty! **

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto only my OC's.

* * *

Naruto: Alliance of the Ninjas

Chapter 5: Genin Talks

"So… you guys just sit around here and talk? Doesn't sound very productive," Emiko said as she leaned back in her chair. She was in the staff room with Kurenai, Asuma, and Kakashi as they all waited for news on their teams. She and Kakashi had just gotten back from getting lunch and Kakashi had advised they head to the staff room. They had just gotten through introductions and talking about their charges when Emiko made her observation. "You guys don't ever just take the time to train or anything?"

"Nope. That's what Guy does," Asuma drawled, taking a long puff of his cigarette.

Emiko raised an eyebrow. "Who's—"

"You really don't want to know, although I'm sure you'll have the… _pleasure_ of meeting him later on, if our Genin all make it to the second stage," Kakashi said, taking a while to say the word 'pleasure'.

Kurenai frowned. "Where is Guy anyway?"

"He exclaimed something about training as he waits for his 'youthful pupils' last time I saw him," Asuma commented.

"Why do I get the feeling this guys is a bit of a weirdo?" Emiko guessed.

Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma all laughed.

"Perfect word choice."

* * *

"Alright listen up! Phase two of your test is a survival portion! Your team will be heading into the Forest with your goal to gain a heaven and an earth scroll and then head to a tower in the center within five days. There are 24 squads here so half will get a heaven scroll and half an earth. You will fight other squads in order to get the scroll you need but you won't know which team has which scroll. The rules are simple, if one of your team members gets incapacitated or cannot finish, you all fail. You need all three members to get to the tower in order to pass. You may not read the contents of the scroll, trust me you won't want to know what's in it. It's an all-out grudge match; anything can happen within the five days you're out there. In this forest its kill or be killed so caution is key. Oh and a bit of advice? Just don't die!"

All the Genin stared in fright at the fearsome woman as she stood in front of the gates of the Forest of Death barking out all the rules at a rapid pace.

"Now, if I can have you all sign these consent forms so I won't have to do a crap-load of paperwork if you die, that'd be great. As soon as you're done, turn it in and you'll get your teams scroll," Anko explained as she hit Naruto's head to get him to pass out the consent forms. As soon as that was done, everyone all separated and started to read over the forms.

Naruto walked over and saw Hinata and smiled. "Hey Hinata! You nervous for the exams?"

"Y-Y-Yes… I'm v-very nervous…" Hinata blushed as she stuttered.

Naruto smiled. "I'm not nervous though, and you shouldn't be either! This is gonna be a cake-walk!" With that Naruto started walking away. He didn't notice the way Hinata smiled at him as he left and the small blush on her cheeks. Instead he was intent on finding Sasuke or Sakura seeing as he had lost his pen, oblivious to his surroundings.

* * *

"Hey Billboard-Brow."

Sakura—who had been wandering around as she read her consent form carefully—froze in annoyance before looking up and seeing none other than Ino. "Ino-Pig."

"I don't know what you're still doing here. You can't pass these exams, you're too weak and you know it!" Ino insulted looking smug with satisfaction. Sakura's eyebrow narrowed for a fraction of a second before she tried to regain her brave face and come up with a comeback. Thankfully, she didn't need to.

"And you can? You spend more time on your nails and hair than training. It's pathetic." Ino and Sakura turned to see Sasuke standing there glaring at Ino. The blonde looked completely flabbergasted that Sasuke was defending Sakura. Sasuke snorted and turned away from Ino to look at his pink-haired teammate. "Sakura, I need to talk to you for a second. In private."

"Uh… yeah, sure," Sakura nodded before walking off with Sasuke, not even thinking about tossing a snide comment over her shoulder to Ino, who stood there seething. As soon as they were far enough away, Sasuke stopped and rounded on the girl, staring at her intently. Sakura blushed. "W-What is it, Sasuke?"

"What's wrong? You've been off all day today."

Sakura's eyes widened and frantically tried to cover up her obvious discomfort. "No, no, it's nothing! I just overslept last night and didn't eat as much—"

"You're lying to me Sakura," Sasuke accused. "Tell me what's wrong."

Sakura sighed as her shoulders slumped in defeat. "It's just… these tests… they're so grueling and difficult and I'd…" Sakura trailed off as she looked down at her feet. Sasuke didn't pressure her. He merely waited until she was ready to speak. The two were standing in silence for a while before Sakura spoke up again. "I'd just be a burden to you and Naruto! You two are always so strong and you always know what to do. I'd just be in the way. What use can I serve? You said it yourself, I'm worse than Naruto."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Sakura. "You actually took that to heart? I was annoyed with Naruto and just took it out on you without thinking. I didn't mean anything by that. Sakura, you can't put yourself down. We are a three-man squad and we can't go on missions without you. We can't do anything without you. Sure Naruto and I take the more upfront tactics, but you watch our backs. You make sure that we're safe when we get the job done, and that's just as important as anything else. You're not a burden Sakura, so stop saying you are."

Sakura blinked in shock before smiling at the boy. "Thank you, Sasuke."

"Also, I have another question," Sasuke spoke up.

"Yes?"

"When did you meet that Ayame girl? We didn't run into her anywhere."

Sakura blushed. "I met her at the academy when I went to train. She helped me practice this week."

Sasuke nodded before his lips quirked up and he tossed Sakura a bemused look. "You're silly you know that? Training this entire week… and you call yourself a burden?" Sakura blushed as she saw the cute look Sasuke had on his face and the intensity of his eyes. And if she wasn't seeing things, he was moving closer! Was he going to—

"Hey! Sakura! Sasuke! Do you guys have a pen?"

Sakura promptly threw her pen at Naruto's face.

* * *

The Hidden Rain Ninja had all gotten separated when Ayame had run off to go find a pen and Yumi and Chiaki tried to follow her through the mass of people. Yumi looked around the group of Genin before sighing in defeat. "Ayame, where the hell could you have gotten off to?" Yumi asked looking around, and not noticing the boy in her path. The two collided and Yumi stumbled back, while the boy remained rooted in his spot. "Oops, I'm sorry," Yumi apologized looking up into the wild yet handsome face of the boy that Ayame's pink-haired friend introduced as Kiba. Yumi didn't fail to notice that Kiba was extremely handsome.

"No worries. No harm done," Kiba said with a toothy grinned as he saw the beautiful Rain Village ninja.

Yumi noticed the white puppy in Kiba's jacket and smiled as the dog started barking. "Cute dog," Yumi commented, petting him slightly before waving to Kiba. "Sorry to be rude and just hit you and walk away, but I need to go find Ayame and talk to her about walking away from us for the fifth time since we got to these exams. Honestly, I think I need a leash to keep up with that girl."

"Nah, its fine. Hey, I hope to see you in there," Kiba said gesturing towards the Forest, trying to flirt. Yumi smiled at him as if she knew something that he didn't and shook her head as she started to walk away. But not before calling something over her shoulder.

"No… trust me, you don't."

* * *

Chiaki, who didn't have as much patience as Yumi did when dealing with their youngest member, started cursing up a storm as she pushed past other Genin. "Ayame, when I get my hands on you I'm going to kick your ass for making me search for you! First you go off and talk to the pissed looking sand ninja now you run off just for a damn pen? Idiot!"

"Do you make a habit of talking to yourself?"

"Do you make it a habit of eavesdropping?" Chiaki fired back as she whirled around to see a Leaf village Genin with long brown hair in a ponytail and white eyes leaning against the tree she had just walked by mid-rant. "You mind staying out of my business before I knock you on your ass?"

Neji narrowed his eyes. "You know, that's not very smart to say to someone whose about to become your enemy."

"And you think I give a shit, why?"

"Chiaki! Cool it!" Yumi called out, walking over to the two ninja in the middle of a stare down. "We're looking for Ayame, remember?"

Chiaki snorted. "Yeah I remember. Hey, Mr. Personality. Have you seen a girl about this tall with red hair and blue eyes?" Chiaki asked Neji with a look of annoyance on her face as she demonstrated Ayame's short stature and described her looks.

"She was over by the Sand ninja last I saw her."

"Thanks jackass."

"Aren't you a ray of sunshine?"

"I know. I bring joy to all."

Yumi merely face palmed.

* * *

"Where did they go?" Ayame asked herself as she started to wander around, looking for her teammates. She had just gone in search of a pen. She told Chiaki and Yumi she'd be right back. Where could they have gotten off to? Unless… Ayame groaned before shaking her head in frustration. They had gone looking for her! They couldn't trust her to get a pen! Honestly she was getting sick and tired of being treated like a child! Sure, she knew that she could be a bit childish at times, and she didn't follow the whole 'no talking to strangers' rule, but she wasn't an infant! She wasn't defenseless!

"Ugh, I can't believe it…" Ayame muttered softly to herself. "They still can't trust me not to screw things up. I know I went a little bit wild on the last mission, but that wasn't my—" Ayame's rant was cut off as she was shoulder checked by someone. Whirling around, she saw the boy with purple markings on his face and the girl with the fan on her back staring at her.

"You're Gaara's little fan-girl, right?" Kankuro sneered.

Ayame frowned. "I'm not a fan-girl. I'm just his friend."

"Gaara doesn't _have_ friends."

"Kankuro!" Temari exclaimed while punching his shoulder. She turned to look at Ayame with a slightly nicer look than Kankuro had, but it was obvious that the blonde wasn't too fond of Ayame. "Look, what he means to say is that we're the only people Gaara's really got, and we're his family. He isn't welcoming of outsiders and he's a bit unstable. For your own good, just stay away from him."

Ayame nodded in understanding before shrugging. "Well thank you for that piece of advice, but honestly I don't care what you say." This took both of the Sand ninja by surprise. Ayame continued. "So what if he's unstable? What does that matter? I'm not perfect either! Doesn't mean he shouldn't have friends. I understand your concern, but it's misplaced. I want to try and be friends with your brother—and you both too given time—but if you're going to try and scare me away it won't happen; I don't scare easily."

Kankuro snorted while Temari gained a small level of respect for the girl. She was completely insane and didn't know what she was getting herself into, but the girl had heart, and she had to give props for that. "You've got balls kid," Kankuro commented. Ayame got a devious smirk on her face as she closed her eyes.

"More than you have."

Kankuro growled before reeling his arm back to punch the girl—despite the fact that Temari would give him a verbal lashing and the fact that Gaara might not be too thrilled—but saw something that froze him in place as her eyes snapped open. His body started shaking involuntarily and his breathing quickened. He found he couldn't control any part of his body. He couldn't move. He couldn't even respond to Temari who had started shaking his shoulder and yelling in his ear. He was absolutely pinned down by her. _Those eyes…_ Kankuro thought to himself as he looked into Ayame's baby blue eyes, the girl was cocking her head to the side to look confused, but the two of them knew that wasn't the case. She knew very well what Kankuro was staring at, and he could've sworn the sides of her lips started to curve up in a nearly unnoticeable smirk, but just like with the eyes, Kankuro knew the smirk was there. _It was just a flash but I saw it! Her eyes… they're not normal. They're not natural! They're evil! Pure evil! What... What __**is**__ this girl?!_

"Ayame!"

The red-head turned towards the sound of her teammates before waving at them. Whatever spell Kankuro was under was broken as soon as eye contact was lost and he soon relaxed and turned to Temari with a frightened look. "What's up Kankuro?" Temari asked in concern.

Kankuro looked at Ayame's back as she talked to her teammates a few feet away and shook his head. "I'll tell you later. Right now I'd feel better if we found Gaara."

* * *

Soon all the teams had gotten their forms turned in and gotten their scrolls. Thanks to the sheet that had been put up to prevent people from peaking to see who had what scroll, no one knew which teams to target or who in the squad had the scroll. As instructed by Anko, each team walked towards one of the 44 gates around the forest and waited for the Jounin in front of them to open the gates, signifying the beginning of the test.

Naruto was jumping around in anticipation while Sakura, after having her talk with Sasuke, had a smile on her face as she waited with her shoulders squared and her head held high. Sasuke saw the change in his pink-haired teammate and smirked to himself. The three of them all tensed when they saw the Jounin put a hand on the gate and they all took off as the gate flew open, signaling the start of the test. The three took off before they stopped in a small circle of trees that provided cover. "Alright, what's our strategy?" Sakura asked as they circled up.

"We shouldn't spend too much time in the forest itself," Sasuke spoke up. "The longer we're out here, the more likely it is that we'll be attacked for our scrolls. Our best bet is to get the scroll we need, and then head towards the tower without delaying more than we need to."

"Sounds good," Sakura agreed.

Naruto nodded. "Awesome! But now that we have that done… I kinda really have to pee…" Naruto said unzipping his pants. He was simultaneously hit by both Sasuke and Sakura, the raven haired boy glaring at him for having the audacity of trying that with Sakura in front of him while Sakura was blushing in embarrassment and annoyance at Naruto's stupidity.

"GO BEHIND A BUSH!"


	6. Orochimaru

**A/N: Alright, so this is the start of the chapters where I make Sakura a bit more badass-y than she was in the series! I want to show her strength and how she doesn't always need to have Sasuke and Naruto to save her. She can save herself! And I hope you guys really like this! I am super excited because after the Forest of Death part of the story we get into the actual fights where some of the background of my OC's will start to be shown after their individual fights! Anyway, on with the chapter! Hope you like it! This chapter is shorter than most, but this is because if I kept going with it then the chapter would be WAYYYYY too long as compared to just breaking it up.**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, only my OC's.

* * *

Naruto: Alliance of the Ninjas

Chapter 6: Orochimaru

"What were you thinking?!" Chiaki yelled, hitting Ayame on the top of the head causing said girl to clutch her skull and pout comically. The three Rain ninja had run off into the Forest and as soon as they stopped, Chiaki had rounded on their youngest member. Yumi merely watched and kept out of the argument for as long as possible. But knowing her two teammates she would get dragged into it eventually.

Ayame frowned. "I was thinking about what our strategy could be and—"

"Not that! You know what I'm referring to!" Chiaki accused. Ayame looked like she had no idea. The blonde crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the younger red-head accusingly. "Kankuro."

Ayame's face shone realization before she scratched the back of her head, smiling in embarrassment. "Oh, you actually noticed that?"

"It's not hard when we see Kankuro nearly wet his pants while looking at you! You look like you wouldn't hurt a fly so only one thing would make him want to turn tail and run! Right Yumi?"

Yumi sighed. She'd gotten dragged into it. "Right. Ayame, Emiko-sensei already told us what we can and cannot do, and what you did was one of those things you couldn't do."

"It was an accident!" Ayame said, pouting slightly. "He got me mad and it just… happened."

"Well make sure it doesn't happen again," Yumi responded before Chiaki said something scathing. "Remember, Emiko told us only to use Taijutsu and our weapons. Nothing more. Got it? That goes for you too, Chiaki." Chiaki frowned as Ayame pouted, both girls not liking the fact that they were only allowed to use Taijutsu, but they nodded in agreement. "And no running away from us if you can help it, Ayame. Your family would kill us if anything happened to you," Yumi added on, causing Ayame to sigh dramatically.

"Fine… so what are we going to do about the boys hiding behind that tree over there planning to jump us?" Ayame asked casually as she toyed around with the kunai holster on her leg. "Who's going to take care of it?" Chiaki grinned maliciously as she turned towards the tree where the boys from the Leaf village were hiding. The boys stumbled out in shock and confusion at being found out so easily as the blonde stalked forward, cracking her knuckles.

"They're mine."

"AHH!"

* * *

Sakura heard the scream from the forest, but pushed that out of her mind as she threw a kunai with a paper bomb attached at the female Grass ninja who had just summoned a large snake and was attacking her group. Naruto had just rejoined the group after—according to him—almost getting eaten by a snake and he and Sasuke had tried fighting off the large snake while simultaneously trying to fight off the girl. Naruto was surprising to watch, seeing as he suddenly got a boost of chakra, but the girl lit her fingers up in a purple light before punching Naruto in the stomach and throwing him to the side—Sakura having to throw a kunai to catch the boy so he wouldn't die from the high fall—knocking him out of the fight.

Now it was just her and Sasuke vs. the Grass ninja.

And thanks to the exploding kunai she had just thrown—which happened to hit the large snake, killing it and causing the girl to jump onto a close tree branch—all attention was on Sakura.

"So, you want to be next, little girl?"

Within a split second the Grass ninja was in front of Sakura, shocking the pink-haired girl. She tried to jump out of the way to formulate some sort of plan but wasn't fast enough. She felt her ankle being grabbed mid-air and heard a sickening crack as the ninja squeezed hard, shooting pain up her system. As if that wasn't enough she was thrown backwards towards a tree. Preparing for the impact, Sakura squeezed her eyes shut and tensed up. The impact however, never came as she felt strong arms wrap around her waist and catch her before she hit the tree. Looking up she saw Sasuke's face so close to hers. He removed one of his arms from around her waist and brought his fingers to his lips. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

He blew out his breath and a huge fire ball flew out, striking the Grass ninja dead-on. Sakura felt the intensity of the heat on her face, due to her close proximity, and she internally wondered when Sasuke had the time to make the hand signs necessary to preform that jutsu. As the flame died down and Sasuke sighed in relief—knowing that there was no way for the Grass ninja to survive the blast—he turned to stare at Sakura with concern, placing her down gently on the branch. "Are you okay?"

The question made Sakura evaluate herself and the searing pain in her ankle made its appearance. Her head started to spin from the sheer pain, but she forced herself to settle and stared up into Sasuke's worried eyes. "I'm okay…" Sakura said shakily.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow in disbelief and cast a look towards Sakura's right ankle. It looked red and seemed to be swelling. He exhaled sharply. "No you're not. Let me take a look," Sasuke said moving to touch her ankle. Sakura jerked away but his hand steadied her. He lightly touched her ankle and probed it, being gentler as she whimpered in pain. "The bones are in place, but it's probably a fracture. You're going to have to take it easy with walking."

"Really? Just a fracture? Hm… I thought I had used more force than that."

Sasuke and Sakura both tensed as they turned to stare at where the flames were diminishing around the Grass ninja who was still standing. Horrifying enough was the fact that her face was partially melted off, revealing a completely different face underneath. "Interesting, very interesting. You look surprised? Let me enlighten you on a little secret. My name is Orochimaru and you shall both die. Not yet however. I want you to stir and fear for your lives. You've been warned. The Leaf Village will fall. You, however, Sasuke may prove useful… if you survive of course." Saying that his neck extended and headed straight for the raven haired boy, sinking his teeth into his shoulder.

Sasuke called out in pain, prompting Sakura to pull out a shuriken and hurl it at Orochimaru's neck. He was faster, however, and retracted his neck before the bladed weapon could hit him, and he vanished in an instant, leaving the defeated Team 7 behind.

"Sasuke! Are you alright?" Sakura asked as she watched her teammate clutch his shoulder in pain before collapsing to the ground near her. "Sasuke, what's wrong?!" Sakura asked as she pulled him over to her, looking on his shoulder and seeing three black swirl marks on the back of his neck.

"S-Sakura… t-take care of Naruto. R-Run and hide. I'm n-n-no use to you now…" Sasuke muttered before passing out.

Sakura's eyes widened at his words. Leave him? How could he expect her to leave him? It was then that the gravity of the situation hit her. Naruto was unconscious, pinned to a tree by a kunai; Sasuke was currently out of commission, which only left her. Her and her possibly fractured ankle. She was the last one standing. Realizing her crucial position, she grabbed the back of Sasuke's shirt and pulled him up, as best she can, gripping him tightly under one arm. She jumped from the tree branch to the branch closest to Naruto—nearly dropping Sasuke in the process due to his heaviness and her ankle protesting—and pulled the kunai out, grabbing his jacket before he fell further. She pulled him over to her branch and wrapped her other arm around his waist. She would have no use of either of her arms, and her right ankle was barely usable. She had to get both of her teammates—her stronger, heavier teammates—out of harm's way and to somewhere safe with only the complete use of her left leg and no one watching her back. Not to mention dodging enemies in a forest where anything goes.

"Don't worry you guys, I'll get you somewhere safe," Sakura assured as she began her journey, jumping from tree branch to tree branch, holding onto her teammates for dear life, while crying at the pain her ankle was giving her. But she couldn't give up. She wouldn't give up. She wasn't going to let them down. She wouldn't allow it. "You guys are gonna be fine, I promise."

* * *

"You've got to be kidding me! How do we keep getting people with Earth scrolls?" Chiaki complained as she threw the Earth scroll she had in her hand in the air before catching it. She looked around the group and saw that there was another Earth scroll in Ayame's hands and Yumi's. Along with the Earth scroll that Ayame was in charge of carrying that they received at the beginning which made four in total. They had defeated the Leaf ninja that had attacked them, and soon ambushed two groups of Grass ninja who had decided to pair up. Each of them had an Earth scroll.

Yumi shrugged in indifference. "It's not that big a deal. We don't know who has what, so it's no surprise that we keep getting Earth scrolls."

"Yeah, but we need a _Heaven_ scroll. What are we going to do with four damn Earth scrolls?" Chiaki huffed.

Ayame smiled. "Why don't we give them to some of those really nice Leaf ninja that Sakura's friends with? They seem real nice and maybe they need them! Or maybe Gaara's team?"

"One, I don't think that giving away scrolls is supposed to be how this trial goes. Two, we don't even know what scrolls they need. And three, I think Kankuro would shit himself if he sees you again out in the woods," Yumi said with a chuckle. Ayame merely pouted. Seeing her face, Yumi sighed. "But we can give them away if we find someone who needs it that you're friends with."

"Yes! Thanks Yumi!"

Chiaki paused in her throwing and sighed. "We need to find this damned Heaven scroll, and I think we'll cover more ground if we split up."

"Split up?" Yumi asked, trying to see if she was serious. "You want us all to split up? You think that'll end well?" Yumi was referring to the fact that Ayame would be by herself in a forest where everyone would kill her. Not that they could, of course, but it still made the brunette hesitant to let the red-head go off on her own. Especially seeing as her father had given them express orders to protect her at all times and Ayame was directionally challenged on epic proportions. Chiaki understood where Yumi was getting at, but shrugged.

"Probably not, but we can handle ourselves!"

Ayame nodded. "I think it's a good idea!"

Yumi sighed. She had been outvoted. "Alright then, I'll go north from here, Chiaki you can go south and Ayame you'll head east. We just came from the west." Ayame and Chiaki nodded in agreement. "And remember, no jutsu other than Taijutsu."

"Got it!"

With that the three girls parted way, intent on finding someone with a Heavens scroll.


	7. Sound Ninja

**A/N: Alright, we're getting to some of the episodes I really like, and I hope you guys like it too! I want to apologize yet ago for the shortness of the chapter, but I had to break up this into a few parts or else I'd give you guys like ten pages to read and that would be like overkill! Anyways, I hope you guys like it! Reviews would be greatly appreciated! All reviewers get pet unicorns! Well not really, but that would be awesome!**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto only my OC's.

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Naruto: Alliance of the Ninjas

Chapter 7: Sound Ninja

Pulling down a cloth from the small line she had set up, Sakura moistened it with water from her canteen and replaced it with the dry one on Sasuke's forehead.

Sakura had succeeded in carrying both Sasuke and Naruto to a place she had found that offered good cover. It was at the base of a tree where there was a large opening in the roots, providing a small shelter. She had placed both boys on the ground, being sure to place their pouches under their head for cushion, and started tending to them. Naruto, thankfully, was just sleeping off the stress of whatever Orochimaru had done when punching him with those weird lights on his fingers. Sasuke, however, was a different matter. His forehead was burning up and he was panting, and there was also the matter of the wound in his thigh he had gotten during the fight with Orochimaru. What was wrong with him, she didn't know, but she tried to help him any way she could.

As soon as she hung up the other cloth Sakura could feel her ankle throbbing in pain and her eyelids lowering slightly. It was difficult to keep her eyes open and ignore the pain. It was just too much for her. _A small nap couldn't hurt… _Sakura thought to herself as she drifted off. Snapping her eyes open she shook her head and willed the thought out of her mind. She wouldn't sleep. She couldn't. Hearing a rustling, she turned and saw a squirrel running towards her. It started coming too close to the trap she sent so she threw a kunai at it, causing it to scamper off.

Sighing in relief, Sakura started dozing off again.

"Some look out, you're half asleep."

Sakura's head snapped up as she whirled around and pulled out a kunai, noticing the three Sound ninja that had attacked Kabuto. "At least you don't have to keep look out anymore; we already found you," Dosu—the one with the wrappings on his face—called out. "Now wake Sasuke up, we want to fight him."

Sakura tensed, her hand resting by her kunai. Something didn't seem right with her. They just wanted to fight Sasuke? Why not demand their scroll? Growling she started piecing things together in her head. "What do you want here? What do you really want? What does Orochimaru want with Sasuke? What's the strange bruise on the back of Sasuke's neck? You're behind that too aren't you!"

Dosu's visible eye widened.

Zaku, the other boy with bluish hair, snorted. "I can't keep quiet after her talking to us like that. First I'm going to kill the girl, and then I'm going to kill Sasuke."

"Wait, Zaku. This ground is the color of dirt that has just been dug up and this grass doesn't even grow here," Dosu pointed out, laughing at the pink-haired girls' expense. "You know if you're going to lay a trap it shouldn't be obvious." The Sound ninja jumped up preparing to attack while Sakura smirked and cut the wire just next to her. Swinging from the top of the tree was a large log with spikes on the end, heading for the Sound ninja.

"A log!" Zaku called out.

Dosu growled. "She laid a trap above? Nice try but it won't work!" He put his and on the log and made a hand sign before it shattered. Sakura tensed and got ready to fight as they began approaching. "Clearly you have no talent for being a ninja. Someone like you needs to make more of an effort, don't you think?"

"Leaf Hurricane!"

Sakura's eyes widened as she saw Lee appear in front of her with a squirrel on his shoulder after kicking away the Sound ninja in a blur. "It seems that you too need to make an effort, wouldn't you agree?" Lee mocked as he landed on the ground in front of Sakura, standing in his fighting stance.

"I'd have to agree with him."

Sakura and the Sound ninja both turned to look at the source of the noise. Up in a tree just nearby was Chiaki. She had a large smirk on her face as she jumped down from her perch to stand in front of Sakura beside Lee. Sakura blinked in sheer surprise not only that Lee was coming to her aid, but so was Chiaki, a girl she barely knew anything about. Dosu growled. "Who are you two?"

"I'm the handsome devil of the Leaf Village, and my name is Rock Lee!"

"Not that it's any of your business but my name's Chiaki of the Hidden Rain."

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows. "What are you two doing here?"

"I just happened to be running by and noticed that these guys weren't big on fair fights," Chiaki shrugged.

"I shall always appear anytime and anywhere that you are in trouble, Sakura," Lee took the squirrel off his shoulder and placed him on the ground. "This is all thanks to you little one, but you must go now."

Sakura shook her head in confusion. "But here on this test I'm your enemies. Why would you help me?"

"Ayame wouldn't speak to me if I didn't help you out," Chiaki smirked looking back at Sakura. "She's really taken to you."

Sakura nodded, smiling at the name of her new friend. "And Lee, why are you here?"

"Sakura, I already told you. I will protect you until I die."

Sakura's eyes widened as she remembered how Lee proclaimed his love and how he would always protect her right before the exams. She was truly surprised that Lee not only said that, but that he meant it. She smiled gratefully and nodded. "Yes… thank you Rock Lee."

_"YES! SHE SAID YES GUY-SENSEI! SHE SAID YESSSSSSS!" _

"Dude… what are you doing?" Chiaki asked as she saw Lee crying comically.

"Zaku! It looks like you'll have to fight Sasuke. I'll deal with these three," Dosu said charging forward.

Chiaki was about to start making hand signs but froze when she remembered she was strictly limited to Taijutsu and whatever weapons she had at her disposal. Growling, she pulled out a kunai and threw it at Dosu, which he quickly dodged. Turning, she saw Lee's hand in the ground before he ripped out a large tree root, using it to defend the three of them from the attack. "I'm positive that there is something more to his attack so we should not even bother to try and dodge it," Lee advised as he looked at Chiaki.

Chiaki, however, blinked. "Dude, do you bench-press freaking buildings?!"

"You're pretty strong, Lee!" Sakura commented.

Lee blushed a bit before he turned back to Chiaki. "We must divide and conquer!"

"Alright, let's get this party started!" Chiaki sprinted forward, aiming for Dosu, who merely scoffed and moved his sleeve up to reveal his metal cuff with several holes in it. Chiaki's charge didn't slow at his show, but she merely sped up. Dosu prepared to swing at the girl but his eyes widened in shock as she disappeared before his eyes. He felt something grab the back of his shirt before he was flung backwards, catching a glimpse of a smirking Chiaki as he flew back. _She's fast!_ He thought to himself as he righted himself in the air before landing on the ground.

"Dosu look out!" Zaku shouted. Dosu turned around and saw Chiaki headed his way, kunai out and intending to strike. Dosu reacted as fast as he could, swinging his arm around and nearly hitting Chiaki on the side of the head with his silver device. The girl quickly evaded and tossed her kunai, but he deflected it with the metal arm band. He didn't hit her, but he didn't have to. The damage was already done.

Chiaki looked confused as to why Dosu looked so smug, but she didn't have time to dwell on that. A high pitch ringing began assaulting her ears, deep inside her eardrum. She clutched her head in pain and in a vain attempt to make the sound go away, but it wouldn't cease. Liquid started flowing out of her ears, and it took the blonde a few seconds to realize it was blood. Her blood. "W-What did you d-do to me?" Chiaki demanded as she fell on her knees, holding her head in pain, the whole world starting to look blurry.

"Chiaki!" Sakura cried out in dismay as she saw the blonde looking worse for wear.

Dosu laughed. "Oh, you're worried about this one?" Dosu asked, grabbing Chiaki by her braid and hoisting her to her feet, despite her screams of protest. "Here, why don't I send her to you?" Dosu threw the girl in the air before punching her in the gut with his hand with the weapon. Chiaki went soaring in the air before being caught by Lee. He placed her down on the ground before getting back to his feet and facing the enemies. The blonde started shaking and coughing up blood violently. "Chiaki, what's wrong?!" Sakura called out, running to the girl despite her throbbing ankle and kneeling by her side. "Chiaki, what happened?" Sakura asked, cradling the girls head in her lap.

The pink-haired girl watched as Chiaki's hands tightened into fists and her face morphed into one of annoyance, even as she continued to cough up blood, the red substance speckling her face. "S-Sou-nd… w-waves…" Chiaki tried speaking in between coughs.

Lee looked towards Chiaki and Sakura, noticing that Chiaki looked relatively out of commission, and Sakura was in no condition to fight. Looking down and unraveling his arm bandages Lee thought about his sensei. "Forgive me Guy-sensei, but I must use the lotus technique now. The condition has been met… to protect the life of someone precious!" With that Lee disappeared from view, much like Chiaki had earlier, but unlike Chiaki, he was much faster. He kicked Dosu in the chin, sending him into the air. Lee appeared underneath him as his bandaging unraveled from his arm to wrap around Dosu, forcing his arms behind his back. Lee grabbed Dosu's waist as they started falling to the ground and began spinning.

"Oh no, Dosu!" Lee heard Zaku call out.

Lee ignored him however as they approached the ground. "Take this! Primary Lotus!" Lee let go of Dosu and jumped away as the Sound ninja impacted with the ground, causing a mini explosion. Lee narrowed his eyes as his body started to feel weird, but still dropped to the ground in front of Sakura and Chiaki, who ceased coughing and seemed to be unconscious.

Zaku smirked as he pulled his hands from the ground, showing the small tunnels he had made leading up to the large mound of soft dirt where Dosu was half stuck into. "Caught you just in time. That impact could've been much worse for you."

Dosu pulled himself out of the dirt and shook his head a couple of times to get his bearings straight. Lee gasped in shock. "That's a frightening jutsu… even landing on this dirt, it nearly took me out. But now… it's my turn!"

"Lee watch out!" Sakura called out as Dosu took off, aiming for him. Lee couldn't move as fast as we wanted due to the strain his muscles were under from using that technique, but he managed to move back in time to avoid the punch. Much like Chiaki, however, the boy began shaking as he fell to his knees.

"Your jutsu is indeed fast, but ours is fast because it travels at the speed of sound," Dosu smirked under his facial wrappings. He chuckled as he watched Lee throw up whatever food or liquids he had in his stomach, blood dripping out of his ears. "Oh, I forgot to mention this little gadget I wear. You may be able to dodge my blows but you can't get away from it. I don't need to hit you with my fists; I can attack you with the power of sound. What makes it possible for the ear to hear things? What is sound really?"

"Vibrations," Sakura spoke through clenched teeth as she rolled Chiaki on her side, making sure the girl didn't choke on the blood in her mouth.

"Give the little lady a prize. Yes the vibration of molecules in the air creates a sound wave. These vibrations are collected by the ear, and then directed from the outer ear canal to your eardrum. The rest, as they say, is anatomy. What interests me are the organs of your inner ear. The ones that control your sense of balance… your ability to move. Feeling a little dizzy? Nauseous? Best if you didn't try and stand up for a while."

Zaku smirked. "Your old school Taijutsu won't work on us. Not that you're not good at it, it's just that compared with our jutsu that stuffs just yesterday's news. See I can manipulate high frequency sound waves and air pressure. Face it kid, you're dealing with the jutsu of the future."

"Now, it's your turn little girl!" Dosu shouted as he charged towards Sakura. Lee looked over and winced.

"No!" He shouted pushing himself up and running to try and defend the girl. He beat Dosu to getting to Sakura and put his hand on the ground to deliver a spinning kick. "Leaf Hurricane!" He however, couldn't complete the attack.

"Not quite as effective now, is it?" Dosu smirked as he reeled his arm back to hit Lee again. He was surprised, however, when there was a 'poof' and it was no longer the black haired boy in front of him, but Chiaki. She had latched onto his arm and looked up into the sky.

"Lee! Now!"

Dosu looked above him in shock and saw Lee above him, aiming a kick for his head. Frantically trying to save himself—because he had been on the receiving end of one of Lee's rather strong kicks—he immediately used his Sound Wave Amplifier on Chiaki. Causing the girl to scream before she collapsed onto the ground, unconscious due to the vibrations practically shutting down her body. He then whirled around to jump out of Lee's path before he hit the gadget on the side of the head and used the device just as he had with Chiaki. Like the blonde, Lee cried out in pain before crumpling to the ground near the Rain ninja. Dosu glared at the two bodies lying on the ground. "Impressive, very impressive. You both shouldn't have been able to move, let alone use transformation jutsu or set your plan into action at such speeds. I didn't even see when you both changed places. You're efforts were in vain, however. It's time to end this."

"That's what you think!" Sakura shouted as she threw three kunai at Dosu. Dosu merely raised his amplifier to block the bladed weapons. He chuckled evilly, a malicious glint in his eye as he turned to look at the pink-haired girl.

"Oh, I had almost forgotten you were there."


	8. Sakura Blossoms

**A/N: Alright, this chapter is one of my favorites and I had loads of fun writing it! I really love this chapter and I really wanted to make Sakura a stronger character with writing this story. I loved her potential and how she was one of the most real characters so I really wanted this part to do her justice and show how strong she really can be! Anyways, I hope you guys like it! Reviews would be much appreciated!**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, only my OC's.

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Naruto: Alliance of the Ninjas

Chapter 8: Sakura Blossoms

"Oh, I had almost forgotten you were there."

Sakura's eyes widened as she looked around the battlefield. Sasuke and Naruto were down. Chiaki and Lee were down. She was surrounded by the three Sound ninja, and her ankle seemed to choose that very moment to make itself known once again. Pulling out three shuriken she hurled it at Dosu, only to be surprised as Zaku appeared in front of him and used the small holes in the palm of his hands to channel a strong air pressure to send the shuriken back towards her, missing completely and heading into the trees. Sakura went to reach for another weapon when she felt a hand grab her hair and pull her back, causing her to fall back onto the ground.

"Such pretty hair. Who you trying to impress out here? You know if you spent a little less time shampooing and a little more time practicing your jutsu, then maybe you wouldn't be in this fix." The female Sound ninja—Kin—asked as she shook Sakura's hair. "Hey Zaku, I know what would be fun. Let's make Miss Beauty Queen watch while we kill Sasuke.

Zaku smirked. "Sounds fine to me."

Sakura growled as she tried to move forward, only to get yanked back by her hair. "Don't even bother."

Gripping at the dirt, Sakura tried to fight back tears but lost. Tears started streaming down her face as she looked down at her lap. _It's no use…way to go Sakura, you let everybody down again! What good are you? Even now when the others really need me, I cave! How many times have they saved my neck? You'd think that maybe just once—when it was life or death—I'd be able to pull through for them. What good am I?!_ Sakura thought to herself. She gasped as she remembered at a memory that flashed through her head.

_"I can't keep up, Ayame!" Sakura complained as she sat on the ground. Sakura couldn't keep up with Ayame's fast-paced training and practicing and she was feeling the effects of it. Ayame dropped out of her fighting stance and walked over to her pink-haired friend. _

_"You can do this, Sakura. You're much stronger than you give yourself credit for. You can do so much, but you can't just give up and lay down when things get tough." _

_Sakura shook her head. "Then what do I do?" Ayame smiled and shrugged as if it was obvious._

_"You fight. You fight through the pain and the sadness. You fight through all the emotions and the trials you face. You stand firm and plant your feet, and you move for no one. You make them know that the only time you lie down for anyone is the day you die. You believe in yourself and you fight for all that you love. You just fight and never stop fighting." _

Sakura's fist tightened as she thought about her red-head friend and all those who had defended her. Ayame had trained her, had befriended her, had believed in her. She even asked Chiaki—and most definitely Yumi too—to watch her back. She cared about her to such an extent that she was willing to help her out, even though they hadn't known each other for more than a week. Chiaki owed her nothing and yet she put the competition aside to help her. She pushed her body to its limits to protect her when she could've just given up. When she could've just turned and walked away from her.

_You fight._

Lee… Lee wasn't even on her team. He knew close to nothing about her. He owed nothing to her. He had no reason to defend her. But he claimed he liked her. He proclaimed his love to her and told her he would die for her. And not only did he just say all those things, he proved it. He proved it in his defense of her; in putting her before himself. He fought through his pain and he fought the Sound ninja for her, even though she had called him a weirdo; even when she had disregarded his proclamation of love. He deserved better and yet he still defended her.

_You fight._

Naruto, oh where did she start with that idiot? No matter what they faced, Naruto was always there. No matter what challenge they had, he was always there with his cocky confidence, proclaiming how he would become Hokage. He never lost confidence and he never lost faith. He always had the drive to fight and he always stuck by her side. Despite everything she said to him and about him he was a constant. He would never abandon her and he would always fight to protect her and Sasuke.

_You fight._

And Sasuke. Sasuke didn't have to shout how he was superior. He didn't have to have a cocky attitude and always joke around. He was always prepared and ready to fight; ready to defend her and Naruto. Ready to do whatever it took to protect them. He had put his life on the line for her on multiple occasions since they had gotten assigned to Kakashi's group and he never threw it in her face or brought it up to tease and torment her. He didn't call her out on how she was stupid or weak like others probably would—like Ino had. He merely nodded at her thanks as if it were nothing. As if she shouldn't have to thank him for saving her life. He would merely ask if she was alright. He protected her. He had faith in her. He never let her down.

_You fight._

And all of them… they all laid their lives on the line for her. It was only obvious that she would return the favor. Strengthening her resolve she pulled out a kunai from her holster and ignored the snide remark that Kin had made about her being weak. She wouldn't pay attention to it. She wouldn't pay attention to her pain. She wouldn't give up. She wouldn't run. She wouldn't hide. _No matter what… no matter what the outcome—whether I live or die—I only have one option… _

"I will fight!"

Kin snorted. "Fight with what? That? We already told you, it won't work on us."

Sakura turned around with a smirk on her face. "It's not meant for you." As Sakura raised her arms up, her plan became painfully obvious to all those who were watching. Kin, Dosu, Zaku, Lee—who was still fighting to hold on to consciousness—and Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji—who were hiding in the bushes without anyone being any wiser—watched in shock as Sakura brought the kunai up and dragged it across her hair, just above where Kin's hand was, chopping off her long pink locks. _Please everyone…_ Sakura thought to herself, getting to her feet as she ignored the pain her ankle was in and the strands of hair and her forehead protector falling to the ground around her. _Watch my back. No more caving. Now it's my turn to take the lead. All of you can watch me from the background. I'll take these guys out… or I'll die trying!_

"Kin finish her!" Zaku called out.

Sakura ignored his outburst and stood with her back to Kin, making hand signs. Zaku smirked in recognition as Kin went to stab Sakura, only for there to be a 'poof' and a log to be where Sakura was just at. "A substitution jutsu?!"

_You think you can fool me with that lame Ninjutsu? I'm on to you,_ Zaku thought to himself. He smirked as he saw Sakura appear behind Kin and start charging his way. _In fact, I'm way ahead of you._ "Kin, get out of the way!" Zaku shouted as he saw Sakura throw six kunai at him. His teammate immediately jumped out of the way as Sakura started making hand signs again. "Pathetic, again with the hand signs? Slicing Sound Wave!" Zaku shouted as he sent the kunai flying back with a gust of wind, only for it to hit another log as Sakura's form disappeared. "Okay where are you now?" Zaku asked before looking up, only to see Sakura making the same hand signs again. Zaku snorted. "You really want to keep playing this game? I'm not gonna fall for it!" Zaku shouted as he tossed four kunai at her, striking her in the right shin, her stomach, and her arm.

He immediately started scanning the ground looking for where she'd appear next. _Alright, now where are you?_ Zaku's eyes widened as he felt something drip onto his face. Looking up he felt blood hit his face and he saw Sakura closing in with a kunai in her hand, ready to strike. _No… this time it's really her!_ Zaku thought as Sakura landed on top of him, sinking her kunai deep into his forearm while using her teeth to bite down hard on Zaku's other arm, biting down until she could feel the bone.

Zaku called out in pain before he started using his bleeding arm to punch Sakura in the face, trying to get her to stop sinking her teeth deeper into his arm. Sakura wouldn't let up. Keeping one hand on the kunai in Zaku's arm, she used her other to pull out another blade and stab him in the side, never letting up the grip she had with her teeth. "GET HER OFF OF ME!" Zaku shouted. Despite her face being punched repeatedly, despite her mouth filling with Zaku's blood as she started tearing at skin and muscle, despite her ankle's white hot pain, despite the pain coming from her shin, arm and stomach, despite everything she wouldn't let up. Tears started pouring down her face as the pain started to become unbearable, but despite it all she wouldn't stop.

Zaku continued punching the pink-haired girl before he got a lucky shot to her jaw, getting her to open up her mouth the slightest bit. He used the opportunity to throw her off of him. Checking his arm he saw that a piece of flesh was so cut up that he could see the white of his bone underneath the torn muscle and blood. The kunai was still sticking out of his arm and his side, halting the blood from pouring out as much as it would have had she ripped them out as she gotten thrown.

Looking over at the girl he saw her teeth and her mouth were covered in his blood as she spat some blood and a piece of skin and muscle out of her mouth, a determined look in her eye. Her eyebrow was cut open just above her eye and was steadily streaming down her face. Her cheek was swollen and red and had a small cut on it. Her nose had blood flowing out of it and the kunai he had thrown stuck out of her arm, leg and stomach as if she were a porcupine. Even her ankle, he noticed, was swollen and discolored. Yet she still pushed herself up onto her feet, shaking with the effort, and faced him head-on. No fear was present in her at all. After everything she had seen and everything that had happened to her, she had no fear at all. She merely faced him down with an expression that promised him a cruel and torturous end and that shook his confidence for a moment. Raising his arms up in a rushed panic he growled.

"Say good-bye!"

Before he could attack her, however, three people blurred into view. Sakura looked in shock as she stared at the familiar long blonde hair in front of her. "Ino…? Shikamaru…? Choji…?"

"Surprised? I swore I'd never let you show me up, didn't I?" Ino said. Sakura could read the under tone in her voice and realized that Ino was frightened. Just how long had she been around? How much had she seen? And why was she standing up for her? A small part of Sakura screamed in joy as she jumped to a conclusion. Ino was helping Sakura because of the time they used to be best friends. And just that little thought gave the pink-haired girl hope that she may able to gain what she had lost with the blonde in front of her. "Take a breather…" Ino said in a softer tone as she tossed a look over her shoulder. "Watch out for your teammates."

"These Leaf village worms will be sorry they squirmed into something that doesn't concern them," Dosu threatened from where he stood above the bodies of Lee and Chiaki.

Choji winced. "Are you guys crazy? What are we doing?!" Choji asked as Shikamaru held onto his scarf to prevent him from running away. Choji struggled against Shikamaru's grip as he tried desperately to escape, causing Zaku to laugh.

"Looks like fatty's got the right idea!"

Choji froze.

Shikamaru let go of Choji's scarf, realizing that he wouldn't be able to hold him back any longer, and Ino merely smirked. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING FAT?! I'M NOT FAT! I'M JUST CHUBBY! OH THIS IS SO PERSONAL NOW! YOU WON'T LIVE TO SEE TOMORROW!" Choji continued his rant, promising death and destruction but promptly cut himself off as someone else spoke.

"Whose been using our teammate as a punching bag?"

Sensing the two new chakras the group all turned to see Neji and Tenten in the tree above them, looking down at the group. Tenten's heart stopped when she saw Lee lying on the ground, bloody, beaten, and unconscious. She had seen Lee in action and she never saw him so defeated. Seeing her strong teammate on the ground so hurt was a shock to her. "Lee…" She muttered, hoping he was alright. Neji saw Lee and clenched his jaw. That was his teammate and whoever had hurt him would face his wrath. Something yellow and red caught his eye. Looking closer he saw the foul-mouthed girl he had met earlier—Chiaki if he remembered correctly—was lying on the ground three feet away from their bushy-browed teammate. Her hair was matted with blood and her face was speckled with blood, her lips a bright red. Neji's eyes narrowed slightly before turning to the equally battered pink-haired Genin.

"Sakura Haruno." Sakura looked up at Neji in confusion. "Did she help Lee?" Sakura frowned in confusion at first before she realized what Neji was trying to ask. He wanted to know who his allies were and who his enemies were. He wanted to know if Lee had sustained his injuries from the Sound Ninja or Chiaki or any combination of the two.

Sakura nodded. "Chiaki and Lee… they both tried to protect me. It was the Sound Ninja."

Neji nodded once. So now he knew who he had to maim. And who to thank. Just as he was about to jump down and get ready to fight, Neji was surprised by a sound coming from his immediate right, not one foot away.

"Chiaki!"

Everyone turned in surprise to look at the red-head girl who had appeared out of nowhere with not so much as a snapped twig. No one had noticed Ayame's approach. No one had sensed her chakra. No one even knew she was even in the immediate vicinity until she had called out her teammates name in a panic. The thought that she could sneak up on all of the Genin—especially Neji and Tenten who had yet to fight and were at their peak—was a bit of a shock to all of them. Ayame paid no attention to any of them, however, as she jumped over to her blonde teammate and dropped to her knees, pulling Chiaki's head into her lap. She studied Chiaki's injured form and her face, which was normally filled with such happiness, childlike curiosity, and kindness was wiped away and replaced by a face of sheer malice. As she tilted her head up to stare around her, her eyes widened in shock as she took in the form of her pink-haired friend and the shape she was in. She tossed Sakura a sad look before her face hardened once more.

"Hey, you're that Ayame girl right? The one from the Hidden Rain Village?" Neji called out. Ayame nodded. "Looks like we both have reasons to take the Sound Ninja out then. Care to tag-team?" Neji of course didn't have any intention of making an alliance. He just wasn't stupid. This girl was powerful and from what he had heard the Rookie 9 and Kabuto speak about before the exams, she had to be someone with incredible strength and skill. He wanted to see what he was up against and what exactly her strengths and weaknesses were. And revenge on the Sound ninja was also something he wanted.

Ayame was about to respond with an enthusiastic 'of course' but her attention, along with the attention of the other ninjas, was drawn to the large amount of monstrous chakra being emitted from just behind them. Getting up as a cloud of swirling purple chakra engulfed him was Sasuke. Everyone looked on in shock as they saw the black markings scattered across the left side of his body, and that his Sharingan was activated. His eyes scanned the scene but his eyes stopped and remained glued on one person, and one person only. Sakura.

He stalked up to her, his eyes burrowing into hers, his aura completely dark and menacing. Sakura could feel his eyes as they travelled across her body, taking in all the injuries she had sustained. If it was even possible the purple chakra around him grew more wild and menacing. "Sakura… who did this to you?" The question was one that Sakura had been expecting but not one with such intensity. His every word dripped with venom as he peeled his gaze away from the pink-haired girl in front of him and to glare at all of the ninja on the battlefield in front of him, whether he recognized them or not. Right now no one would be safe if Sakura had pointed the finger at them, despite whether he knew them or not. Everyone looked at him with frightened eyes as he scanned past them, all except for one Neji Hyuga and Ayame. Neji merely observed, trying to figure out the source of this new Chakra while Ayame looked at him with a face of recognition and suspicion. Ignoring the two looks from the male and female Genin he looked towards Sakura once more. "Sakura, who did this to you?"


	9. Genin Gathering

**A/N: Hey everyone! I'm glad you all liked the last chapter! This chapter should be longer (I think...) and I hope you like it! It's got a lot of our favorite characters in it (or at least mentioned) and after this chapter begins there is only going to be one more chapter in the Forest of Death until we actually get to the Sudden Death round of the exams, and that's the one I've been itching to write! Something you must know is that I'm going to either skip or shorten some of the other fights. Some of the fights I WILL be writing will be all of the Sand siblings' fights (Gaara's will be shortened a bit), the Rain ninjas' fights (going to make these up as I go), Sakura's fight (shortened a bit with some differences) and that would be about it. Sasuke and Naruto's fights are going to be shortened extremely as will the rest of the Rookie 9 and Team Guy. And as soon as the fights are done we will start learning some more about OC's! Hope you all enjoy! Please review! **

**_IMPORTANT_****: I'm going to try and start using some of the honorifics and how the names and people are addressed in the Japanese version, so I REALLY need help with that. If anyone could PM me and tell me how it is that you actually use the honorifics I'd be very grateful! It's either that or I resort to google! **

Disclaimer: I don't own Nauto, only my OC's.

* * *

Naruto: Alliance of the Ninjas

Chapter 9: Genin Gathering

"Sakura, who did this to you?"

Zaku, who obviously was tired living his pathetic life or was completely oblivious to everything around him, smirked as he looked in Sasuke's direction. "That'd be me."

Without another second passing Sasuke was in front of Zaku, shocking everyone by his speed. He raised his hand up and proceeded to essentially bitch-slap Zaku away, looking as if he was barely trying. Zaku flew through the air before landing on the ground painfully and rolling to a stop. As soon as he pushed himself onto his knees, he looked up to see where Sasuke was, already formulating a plan of attack. Surprisingly though, Sasuke was nowhere in sight. _Where did he—_

"Zaku, behind you!" Kin shouted.

Zaku didn't have time to respond as he felt his arms being pulled back behind him and he felt a foot being placed on his back. Zaku's eyes widened in terror as he looked over his shoulder and saw Sasuke glaring murderously at him, the black markings starting to spread to the rest of his body. "You seem to be very _attached_ to your arms," Sasuke said evilly as he started applying pressure with his foot and pulling back with his arms. Zaku opened his mouth to plead for his life but the only sounds that came out were his screams of agonizing pain as Sasuke yanked on his arms, popping them from his sockets, much to the surprise of everyone watching the whole ordeal. No one thought that the Uchiha could be so violent. Zaku slumped to the ground from the pain, losing consciousness.

"Zaku!" Kin shouted, reaching into her pouch to pull out a weapon as she raced towards her friend. She didn't get the chance to do anything. Sasuke appeared in front of her and punched her into a tree where she hit with a loud _thunk_ and slumped to the ground unconscious. Sasuke's eyes turned toward Dosu. His facially expression was obvious to everyone. Two down and one to go.

Sakura, who had been watching the entire scene with a tear stained face, shook her head as she looked at Sasuke savagely taking out the Sound Ninja. That wasn't the Sasuke she knew. Whatever power he was using, wherever it was coming from, it wasn't his and it was twisting him into something he wasn't and it scared her. Sasuke was slowly disappearing before her eyes, causing a new round of tears to flow from her face. Despite the pain she was feeling she ran across the battleground, with an awkward hop. "STOP!" She shouted wrapping her arms around Sasuke's back and holding him tight, halting his advance. His red eyes whipped around to meet her watery green ones. "Please… stop…" Sakura whispered, her voice broken. "This isn't you… please…" Sasuke stared at her for a little longer before the black markings seemed to recede.

Sasuke started to stumble backwards but Sakura quickly caught him and lowered him to the ground, both of them in a sitting position. Sasuke seemed to be panting from the exertion while everyone was thrown for a loop. Sasuke, who was about ready to murder everyone, was halted by the pink-haired kunoichi.

Dosu, realizing that this was a fight he wouldn't win—and he wasn't too fond of uneven odds if they weren't favoring him—grabbed Kin and Zaku, tossing the girl over his shoulder and pulling an Earth scroll out of his back pocket. "This is not a fight we can win anytime soon. You win this round Uchiha. I'll strike a deal, you don't attack us and we give you this scroll," Dosu placing it on the ground. He waited a second before he disappeared from sight, taking his two teammates with him.

Almost immediately everyone started running around everywhere. "Ino, check on Lee! We'll see how Naruto's holding up!" Shikamaru ordered as he and Choji started running over to the still unconscious blonde while Ino ran over to the green clad boy. Tenten jumped down from her perch to follow behind Ino, anxious to assess her teammates' injuries. Neji observed for a moment before he too jumped down and started to head towards his teammates.

"Lee? Lee, c'mon wake up!" Tenten shouted at her teammate, shaking his shoulder hoping that he would open his eyes. Ino helped Tenten in her efforts to get the boy to wake up while Shikamaru and Choji started kicking at Naruto who was sleep-talking. It took a few minutes but soon Lee had opened his eyes. Even Chiaki started to stir, blinking up and looking on in confusion as to Ayame's crying face above her. "LEE, YOU STUPID IDIOT! YOU COULD'VE BEEN KILLED! DON'T RUN OFF ON YOUR OWN AND PLAY HERO AGAIN! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!" Tenten shouted, shaking Lee again, making it look as if she was going to knock the poor boy out once again. Ino merely hung back, not wanting to get involved.

"Chiaki! You're awake!" Ayame smiled in excitement.

"A-Ayame…?"

"What the hell did I miss?"

Everyone whipped around at the approaching chakra in order to see Yumi jump out of the trees and land next to her teammates. She looked at Chiaki briefly before scanning the area once. Having assured herself no one was going to try and stab her in the back, she looked down at her blonde friend. "What happened to you? Got beat by a bug?" Yumi asked in a jesting tone, knowing that while Chiaki was injured, she didn't like being babied. And there was the fact that Ayame looked close to hyperventilation, so lightening up the situation would be helpful.

"YOUKNOW DAMN WELL I COULD KICK ANYONE'S ASS ANY DAY OF THE WEEK! LET THOSE SOUND NINJA COME BACK HERE, I'LL RIP THEM APART!" Chiaki shouted without a second's hesitation, shooting up and wincing slightly at her rapid movement. Looking around she frowned. "Where'd the hell they go anyway?"

"Uchiha scared them away," Neji responded.

"Do you ever quit eavesdropping?"

"Do you ever quit shouting?"

"Nope!"

Naruto, who had been awaked by Shikamaru and Choji hitting him over the head with a stick, whirled around and took in his surroundings. Seeing Lee being supported by Tenten and Ino as they helped him get to his feet, Chiaki being pulled up by Yumi and Neji—Chiaki shouting she didn't need help—while Ayame was frantically looking between her teammate and her pink-haired friend, conflicted with whether or not she should leave Chiaki to check on Sakura, and Sasuke looking seriously at Sakura as the two conversed. Remembering what happened before he passed out Naruto did what he did best.

Overreact.

"EVERYONE GET DOWN!" Naruto shouted, crawling on his belly, gesturing wildly for everyone to drop to the ground also. He started crawling on his stomach looking around. Ayame looked to be contemplating whether or not she should drop down to before Yumi caught her eye and shook her head. "Where is she? Where is that Grass Ninja?" Naruto paused as he felt something hitting a sore spot on his head. Looking up he saw Choji poking him repeatedly with the stick to get his attention.

"You're one of a kind, you know that?"

Naruto looked confused before he spotted Sakura seated by Sasuke. The first thing he noticed was that her long hair was gone. The next thing he noticed was how severely injured his female teammate was. The thought that someone had caused her harm cause a sudden anger to sweep through his system. "Sakura!" Naruto called out as he ran towards the girl before sliding on his knees in front of her and Sasuke. "What happened? Who did that? Why's your hair gone?"

Sakura looked shocked. "Oh? That's all? Well, I was trying to fight the Sound Ninja and… I decided to change my look. I like my hair better long, but when we're in the wilderness and moving around a lot it gets in the way."

"But why is everyone here?" Naruto questioned, looking at the group of rival Genin around him as if he was thinking one of them may have tried hurting his pink-haired friend. Sakura smiled as she looked towards Lee who was back to sitting on the ground after Tenten had given him another verbal lashing, and Chiaki who was now standing on her own, only swaying a bit on her feet. Naruto, following her gaze, laughed as he saw the green clad ninja being yelled at by Tenten. "Haha! Looks like Bushy-Brow is in troub—LET GO OF ME SAKURA!"

"YOU BETTER NOT SAY ANYTHING BAD ABOUT LEE!" Sakura ordered as she punched Naruto square in the face, sending him flying across the small clearing. After punching the blonde, Sakura started to walk over to Lee, limping and threatening to fall over. Sasuke saw this and immediately jumped up to help her walk over. As soon as she was in front of Lee and Chiaki she smiled. "Lee… I'd like to thank you. Because of you—you and Chiaki both—I was able to stand up for myself and get a bit stronger."

Lee looked like he was about to cry. "Thank you Sakura! But it seems my efforts weren't enough alone."

"Or combined with someone else's," Neji muttered under his breath. Chiaki, however, caught it.

"YOU WANNA GET YOUR ASS KICKED SUNSHINE?!"

Ignoring their outburst, Lee continued. "Sasuke… your reputation is well deserved. Just what you'd expect from the Uchiha clan. To scare off the Sound Ninja while I was getting beaten to a pulp." Sasuke looked shocked at that fact. Sure, he knew that Chiaki, Lee, and Sakura were in bad shape but there's no way those ninja could've been that strong could there? He hadn't broken a sweat! "Sakura… the Lotus of the Leaf Village blooms twice," Lee spoke up, snapping Sasuke out of his thoughts. "When you see me next I will have become a stronger ninja, I promise."

"Well we'll all have to become stronger after what I saw," Yumi commented, looking off into the distance.

Chiaki frowned. "Hey, we didn't fight that bad!"

"Not you guys," Yumi retorted as she looked around the group to make sure everyone was close enough to hear her. She ignored the fact that Ino had started working on Sakura's hair and that Ayame was sitting down next to the two girls, trying to assist. She knew they would start listening after she began her story. "Those Sand Ninja… they're brutal. More than brutal, in fact. Their downright hell-bent."

That comment got the attention of all the Genin, no matter what they were doing.

"What about the Sand Ninja?" Tenten asked curiously.

"I ran into that other rookie group you introduced us to, Sakura," Yumi said tossing a look towards the pink-haired girl who was sitting by her red-head teammate. "The group with Kiba, that shy girl Hinata, and the other boy named Shino. It was completely coincidental. I wasn't looking for them or trying to attack them, but I noticed them hiding in the bushes, looking positively scared out of their minds."

"Hinata?" Naruto asked in shock and worry, after crawling his way back to the group after Sakura's strong punch.

"Is she okay?" Neji asked, tensing.

Yumi nodded. "Yeah, she's fine. Probably going to be mentally scarred for life after what we saw, but physically she's fine."

"What did you guys see?" Choji spoke up next, everyone starting to get a bit on edge at the tone Yumi was starting to take.

"Well, I dropped down from the trees to see what was up, and as soon as I came up from behind them, Kiba put his hand over my mouth and pulled me down so that I was hidden from sight. Now, as you can imagine, I was about ready to throw punches, but I noticed that Hinata, Shino, and even Akamaru were all on their stomachs. And Akamaru was shaking."

"Akamaru was scared?" Ino asked in shock. She had recalled training sessions where Akamaru and Kiba went up against people and animals twice their size. Akamaru wasn't scared of much.

Yumi nodded. "Akamaru was terrified. Kiba told me to keep quiet and look forward, and that's when I saw what was happening. Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari were facing down these three Rain Village ninja. Kankuro started saying how they should just tail them to make sure that the Rain-nin had the scroll they needed before they started a fight, but Gaara refused. He said that because they looked at him wrong… they had to die."

"What? Just because they looked at him wrong?!" Shikamaru exclaimed in shock.

Lee shook his head. "Surely, he couldn't have been serious?"

"Oh he was serious," Yumi vouched. "Deadly serious. The leader of the Rain-nin started attacking, using a rainstorm of senbon to try and take him out, but nothing hit. When the dust cleared there was like this brown sand shell around Gaara and it had blocked all the attacks. Kiba said the sand smelt like blood. Kankuro went on to explain that Gaara carried around sand in his gourd so he can create an absolute defense. Nothing could get through."

"Nothing?" Sasuke asked, not believing it.

Yumi nodded. "I saw it with my own eyes. No attack could get through. It was a jutsu that apparently only Gaara could do. When the leader went to attack Gaara again, he used the sand to completely encase the ninja, leaving only his face visible. And he…"

"He… what?" Sakura asked, dreading to hear the answer.

"He crushed him... his body seemed to combust, sending blood raining down everywhere," Yumi said, furrowing her brow as everyone dropped their jaws or widened their eyes in shock. "The other two Rain Ninja... they tried reasoning with him. They even offered their scroll in exchange for their life but Gaara wouldn't listen. He killed them too, without any remorse. Kiba grabbed my arm and lifted me so I was in a crouch and we all started to try and run but Gaara... he knew we were there. He looked directly at us. I swear... I saw him meet my eyes but... instead he capped his gourd and started walking away," Yumi finished her story. "They are not people you want to mess with."

"Wait, why would he just leave you and Kiba's group alone? That doesn't make any sense?" Chiaki asked in surprise.

Yumi shrugged. "He just saw us and started walking away. I don't why he left us alone."

"Whatever the reason, it's clear that we shouldn't take the Sand Ninja lightly. We'll have to be on guard," Neji suggested. Everyone nodded except for an oddly silent Ayame, who suddenly found her lap interesting. The red-head girl immediately stood up from her spot by Sakura and looked towards the others.

"Hey, do any of you guys need an Earth scroll?" No one responded. "Oh come on, I'm not going to start a fight! I just want to know who needs one!"

"We do," Ino said raising her hand hesitantly. Shikamaru and Choji shot the girl a glare while the blonde merely stuck her tongue out at them. Tenten nodded in agreement.

"So did we."

Sakura shook her head. "We just got one."

"Well that works!" Ayame beamed. Pulling two scrolls from her pouches she tossed the two Earth scrolls to Ino and Tenten. The surprised looks everyone was giving her caused her to blush slightly. "We had extras, and we'd like to give it to you as a thank you for watching out for Chiaki and Sakura."

"T-Thank you!" Ino thanked gratefully.

Yumi nodded. "Thanks for everything you guys, but we've got to get going. We don't want to stay here anymore than we need to."

"Understandable," Sasuke nodded.

"Bye Sakura!" Ayame smiled hugging her pink-haired friend, who had gotten her hairstyle corrected so it was just past her chin. As she hugged her, Ayame whispered into her ear. "I'm proud of you for fighting." Sakura looked shocked before she smiled and nodded. As soon as Ayame let her go, the three Rain Ninja disappeared. Soon, Ino and her team left and—after a tearful goodbye from Lee, which caused Sasuke to growl behind his pink-haired teammate—Neji, Tenten, and Lee disappeared also.

"Well now we have both the scrolls we need. We need to get to the tower," Sakura commented.

Sasuke shook his head. "No, you need to rest."

"We can't, the longer we're out here the higher the likelihood that we get attacked again," Sakura pointed out. "We have both scrolls so we should get moving now like the other groups."

Naruto shook his head. "You need rest, Sakura!"

Sakura geared up to argue again but Sasuke put his hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her to the ground. He stared into her eyes seriously. "The sun is going to start going down soon and it'll be difficult to start navigating in the dark. We haven't eaten and we need to take care of your injuries. And I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you haven't slept." Sakura's silence was enough of an answer for him. "We'll rest tonight and start first thing in the morning."

Sakura nodded. "Alright…"

"Good, Naruto go find food."

"Why do _I_ have to do it?!"

"Because the last time you practiced field medicine you ended up wrapping Kiba up to the point where he couldn't even breathe."

"Oh…"


	10. Friends?

**A/N: Hey guys! Hope you all liked the last chapter! I think I might be understanding how to do the whole honorific things, but I didn't really use much (or at all) this chapter, because I'm still trying to learn. With minimal success. Anyway, this chapter is actually one I think is really cute, but it might not be good because I haven't had a lot of time this week or the past few weeks to actually write some parts I wanted to get done. Oh well! Winter Break is coming up so I'm super excited about that, which means more writing! Yay!**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, only my OC's.

* * *

Naruto: Alliance of the Ninjas

Chapter 10: Friends?

"Where are we headed?" Yumi asked as she followed behind Ayame, who was practically speeding ahead of her and Chiaki. As soon as they had left the Leaf genin their little red-head had taken off in one direction without seeming to slow one bit. Thankfully, Yumi was helping Chiaki to keep up, but after a few minutes of silent running through the trees, she got interested.

"To the tower."

Chiaki raised an eyebrow. "How we gonna do that? We only have two Earth scrolls, no Heaven."

Without breaking her stride Ayame reached into her pouch and pulled out a Heaven scroll, much to the surprise of her two teammates. Ayame smiled back at them. "I managed to find someone with a Heaven scroll just before I caught back up with you both."

"Nice work Ayame!" Chiaki smirked. "Alright, so if we keep going at this pace then I'm sure we'll be the first ones at the tower."

"Don't be so sure," Yumi warned. "The Sand ninja got their second scroll around half an hour ago. They're probably already there. We need to watch out for them."

Chiaki's smirk fell off her face as she nodded in agreement. "Those guys aren't people to be messed with. We need to stay as far away from them as possible." Upon saying that she turned to look towards their red-head teammate to see if she was paying attention. "Oi! Ayame, did you hear me?"

"I heard you."

"Alright, so it's agreed that we stay as far away from the Sand ninja as possible?" Yumi asked, directing the comment to their unusually silent younger teammate. Ayame didn't respond. "Ayame, you agree to stay away from Gaara?"

"I said I heard you. That didn't mean I'd listen to you."

Chiaki, not liking that answer from Ayame, jumped away from Yumi's grasp so she was directly in front of the girl, halting the advance of the red-head, bringing the entire team to a stop. Chiaki crossed her arms as she looked at the girl in front of her. "Care to repeat that?"

"I said I won't listen," Ayame repeated, her face in a pout.

Yumi shook her head and sighed, knowing that if she didn't do something to deescalate the situation it would get pretty bad. Stepping in between the two girls she placed a hand on Ayame's shoulder, knowing she could convince the red-head more readily than she could the blonde. Chiaki was just too stubborn. "Ayame, you can't talk to Gaara. He's dangerous."

"He's my friend," Ayame stated, her pout turning into a frown.

"We're not here to make friends, Ayame," Chiaki spoke up from behind Yumi.

Ayame shrugged. "That doesn't mean we can't make friends along the way."

Yumi shook her head. "Ayame, making friends with people as dangerous as Gaara will put your life in jeopardy and we can't let that happen."

"But Gaara wouldn't hurt me!" Ayame argued giving the two girls a puppy dog pout. She then stepped back in order to point at Yumi. "He even spared your life Yumi! He isn't that bad!"

Chiaki growled and moved out from behind Yumi to confront the red-head. "Ayame, he could've very well left Yumi and Kiba's group alone because he just didn't give a damn about them! It doesn't mean he did it because he's friends with you and it doesn't mean he's not evil! You always do this shit! You claim to be friends with someone who just shows you a hint of kindness! How do you know it isn't fake? How do you know they aren't just trying to screw with you? How do you know they actually even give a damn about you? Tell me what do you even know about your 'friend' Gaara?" Ayame stood quiet. "Exactly! You don't know anything about him! This is what we're talking about! Gaara is not your friend; he's just someone you met! Now you really need to grow up Ayame and stop being so damn naïve! Everyone is not your friend!"

Ayame's eyes flashed.

Flinching back, Chiaki immediately knew that she had pushed Ayame too far. An elbow to her ribs signaled that Yumi had seen it too and the girls both took a couple steps back. One of the things that both girls knew about their teammate was that she was very good at controlling her abilities and her emotions. She never let anyone see anything they weren't meant to or something she didn't want to show them. That's how Chiaki knew that Ayame had purposely freaked Kankuro out earlier, despite whatever the girl had said. Her eyes flashed for just the briefest of moments, but long enough for both girls to see it. That meant only one of two things. One, Ayame was trying to intimidate or scare them, which wasn't likely. Or two… Ayame was livid.

The second option was much more terrifying.

Ayame continued glaring at her friends until she averted her eyes to something rapidly approaching. Moving her face to the left just in time, the kunai that had been flying at her face only managed to create a small cut on her left cheek. Almost immediately, argument being forgotten, Chiaki and Yumi sprang into action. Chiaki was over by Ayame in a second and had pushed her to the ground, protecting the red-head with her body. Yumi immediately pulled out three shuriken and hurled them towards the direction the kunai had come from. Three ninjas jumped out of the bush, just dodging her attack before fleeing quickly. Yumi tensed to go after them but realized they had gotten too far away and she couldn't leave an injured Chiaki alone to defend Ayame.

"I'm fine!" Ayame assured as Chiaki started looking over the girls' cheek. Yumi walked over and noted—with relief—that Ayame was back to her bubbly personality, whining and trying to swat Chiaki away. "It's just a scratch!"

"Which village were those guys from?" Chiaki demanded.

"Not sure, they weren't wearing forehead protectors, but they didn't look like they were here for the test," Yumi pointed out.

"Well it doesn't matter, they left anyway! C'mon let's get to the tower! We have to keep heading South!" Ayame stated excitedly. Yumi frowned.

"Ayame… you do realize we've been heading North, right?"

"…oops…"

"You poor, poor, directionally challenged child."

* * *

Sasuke looked over Sakura's injuries once again. Said girl was fast asleep on his shoulder after he had insisted that she try to get some rest before Naruto came back. Sasuke had taken care of her injuries, removing the kunai from her body, bandaged her wounds and cleaned off any remaining blood from her face and body. As she slept the raven-haired boy couldn't help but admire her courage and determination.

He hadn't missed the fact that Sakura's mouth was full of blood and that there was a nice chunk of Zaku's arm missing. He didn't overlook the two kunai that had been sticking out of Zaku's arm and stomach with strands of long pink hair around the handle. And he certainly didn't forget her injured ankle. He may not have been conscious, but he knew what had happened. Sakura had gotten them to safety. She had fought—fought damn hard if her injuries were any indication of it. Still, the fact that she was injured while he was around—even though he wasn't even conscious—made his blood boil. He was truly ready to kill Zaku; without hesitation or remorse.

"I got food!" Naruto shouted as he strolled back over to him with an armful of fish.

"Oi dobe, what took you so long?"

"I got three fish for each of us! That takes time!"

"That should've taken five minutes at most."

"Well _excuse_ me for not being Mr. Super Awesome Fish Master!"

"You're excused."

Naruto glared at Sasuke as he dropped the fish in front of the Uchiha. His gaze then turned to the pink-haired girl asleep on the Uchiha's shoulder. He noted the large bruise appearing on her swelling cheek. His anger grew as he saw scab of dried blood on her forehead and the rest of her injuries which Sasuke had seemed to do a good job in taking care of. "How is she doing?"

Sasuke looked down at Sakura before responding. "I got her to fall asleep around ten minutes ago. Her injuries aren't fatal, thankfully. It'll be hard for her to walk without further injuring herself, so I'll have to carry her."

"Don't you mean _we'll_ have to carry her?" Naruto questioned.

"No, I was pretty clear on what I said," Sasuke retorted subconsciously putting his arm around the girls' waist and pulling her closer to him. "I'm not as tired and injured as you are, and I have better reflexes than you do. I can handle whatever comes my way while still holding onto Sakura."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, ready to complain and say that he was just as strong as Sasuke when he paused. The blonde broke out into a Cheshire cat grin and looked suspiciously at Sasuke. "Hm… you sure it's not because you just want to hold onto Sakura because you _like_ her?"

"Don't be an idiot," Sasuke said rolling his eyes. "I'm just stronger than you are."

"Hey!"

"Shut up, dobe!" Sasuke hissed, checking to make sure Sakura was still asleep. "No go make yourself useful and get firewood, then start cooking the fish."

"Why can't you do it?" Naruto whined.

Sasuke gestured to Sakura. "She seems quite comfortable."

"No fair!"

"Just get the damn wood."

* * *

"Good to see you guys made it," Kiba said as soon as he saw the Rain Ninja entering the tower. It was a little while after Kiba, Hinata, and Shino had made it to the Tower and—after realizing they were there alone with the Sand siblings—they were glad that they had the Rain ninja arrive to keep them company… or back them up if the Sand ninja went crazy. Akamaru barked happily and tried wiggling out of Kiba's hood to greet the new arrivals. Kiba looked down in amusement at his companion, but didn't let him run off. He didn't want to chance him wandering into the Sand ninja.

"Good to see you guys too," Yumi commented as she, Chiaki, and Ayame walked over to them.

Hinata looked at them and frowned. "W-What happened to y-you Chiaki-san?"

"Sound ninja," Chiaki shrugged as if it were no big deal that she had blood down her lips, speckled across her face and trailing down her ears. She rolled her shoulders. "They decided to try and take out Sakura while Sasuke and Naruto were unconscious so Lee and I stepped in to take care of business."

"You mean get your asses royally handed to you?" Yuki commented, snickering.

"SAY THAT AGAIN?!" Chiaki shouted, glaring at her brunette friend.

"What's wrong with her?" Shino asked gesturing towards Ayame.

Chiaki and Yumi both whirled around to look at the red-head behind them. Ayame was looking at the two in confusion, but Chiaki and Yumi could immediately spot something off about the girl. Her eyebrows were narrowed slightly and her hand was resting on her stomach slightly; her mouth was parted open the slightest bit and she was taking in deeper breaths. After being with the girl for so long they were able to differentiate between Ayame's different expressions, and that one clearly meant 'I'm going to be sick'. Chiaki immediately frowned.

"Do not tell me you ate those wild berries we told you not to eat!"

Ayame grinned sheepishly.

Yumi face palmed but grabbed the girls arm and started walking away. "Let's go, you're going to empty your stomach one way or another."

"Would you like help?" Hinata offered. She pulled some little containers out of her pouch. "I have some medicines."

"That would be great, thanks."

Ayame held her stomach. "Yumi… I feel like I'm gonna—"

And the red-head then proceeded to empty her stomach.

"Damn it Ayame, I'm not cleaning that up!" Chiaki shouted, jumping out of the general vicinity. Kiba groaned and covered his sensitive nose, thoroughly disgusted that Ayame had thrown up. Of course he had concern for the girl, but he didn't want to smell the partially digested food that made an appearance. "We told you not to eat those damn berries!" Chiaki shouted as she reluctantly made her way over to her two teammates and the Hyuga girl after Yumi had tossed her a fierce glare.

"I-I only a-ate a coup—"

And another round of vomiting.

"Aw can you get her to a bathroom at least?" Kiba asked, desperately covering his nose as tight as he could, without breaking the appendage. Akamaru sniffed once before burying his nose into Kiba's chest, and Shino merely watched with no expression.

"C-Come, l-l-let's get you to the b-bathroom," Hinata stuttered as she helped Ayame to her feet—with Yumi's assistance—and started leading her to the bathroom down one of the hallways.

"Chiaki, clean that mess up!" Yumi shouted as they walked out of the hallway.

"LIKE HELL I WILL!"

"Don't make me tell Dei-san!"

"…I'M KICKING YOUR ASS LATER FOR MAKING ME DO THIS!"

Yumi laughed to herself as Chiaki's grumblings became distant as she and Hinata supported Ayame down the hall. "Where exactly is the bathroom?" Yumi asked, looking over Ayame's head to meet Hinata's gaze. It wasn't that hard seeing as the red-head was hanging her head down and groaning.

"I-It's just d-down this hallway," Hinata assured as she nudged Ayame to get her and Yumi to both turn.

"Thank you by the way," Yumi spoke up as she followed the younger girls' lead. She caught Hinata's confused glance and smiled. "For helping; I know this isn't really the most appealing or fun thing that you could be doing right now, so I'd like to thank you for helping. Kami knows that Chiaki didn't want to help, so I appreciate your volunteering."

"So do I," Ayame piped up miserably.

"I-It's no problem a-at all," Hinata responded with a smile on her face.

"Looks like the little princess isn't doing too well."

Hinata and Yumi stopped mid-snap and snapped their heads up. Slowly they turned, ignoring Ayame's groans. Behind them stood Kankuro, Temari, and Gaara. Kankuro, who had spoken, smirked as he nudged Temari. "She doesn't look so big and bad now, does she?"

"Doesn't look like it," Temari smirked.

Ayame lifted her head and squared her shoulders, stepping away from the two girls supporting her. "Kankuro… so quick to act brave, but be honest… do you really want to fight me?" Kankuro stiffened the most minute bit, but it was caught by the occupants of the hallway. A slow smile found its way onto Ayame's face, causing Kankuro to glare. No matter how he felt about the girl and how frightened he'd been, this girl was challenging his pride, and he wouldn't allow it.

"You're not looking so tough now," Kankuro hissed. "I'm sure I wouldn't even need to take out the Crow to deal with you."

Yumi and Hinata stiffened behind Ayame, both girls sharing a worried look. Hinata looked behind her, hoping beyond hope that Kiba or Shino or Chiaki would sense what was going on and swoop in to help them. Yumi however had her eyes glued onto the girl in front of her. She could see Ayame's arm twitch slightly and her body was shaking minutely. Ayame was struggling not to show weakness, but she was in pain and holding off retching again. Yumi doubted the others could see it. It was only through knowing living with Ayame for so long that she could see the little tells about how the girl was holding up, and she was not content with how she looked. Ayame however, didn't look like she was going to back down despite her pain and Yumi wasn't surprised. After all, when you looked at Ayame's family it was to be expected. But she still couldn't allow Ayame to get hurt—well any further at least. Yumi had to do something. She had to make sure that—

"Kankuro lay off."

She could only imagine how amusing her face looked at that moment. A brief glance at Hinata showed that the blue-haired girl had the same reaction she did. Sheer confusion and shock. Yumi, however, didn't even have to see Ayame's face to know the girl probably had on a large smile.

Gaara had his arms crossed and was glaring at Kankuro. His two Sand siblings were looking at Gaara completely baffled. Temari seemed to be staring at Gaara as if trying to understand him, while Kankuro was sputtering for a response. "She's in no condition to fight at all. What's the point in trying to pick a fight with someone who is not at their best? You're a disgrace Kankuro." Gaara then turned his attention to his fellow red-head in the hallway. He studied her for a few moments before locking his eyes on Yumi and Hinata. Both girls winced. He gestured with his head behind him, towards the other hallway. "Get her to the bathroom and make sure she's okay. I want her at 100% if I might be going against her in the next round."

The order confused the two girls for a moment before they nodded and grabbed back onto Ayame, and started walking with her towards the Sand ninja. Gaara glared at Temari and Kankuro to make room, the three making a hole for them to walk through. Before they passed, however, Ayame pulled away from the two girls and put a hand on Gaara's shoulder, a megawatt smile on her face. Yumi noticed that Gaara looked surprised for a moment, glancing between her hand and her face almost as if he wasn't used to human contact.

"Arigato Gaara-kun."

Now the surprise that was evident on Gaara's face was replaced by complete shock and an almost unnoticeable blush.

"Let's go, before you get sick again," Yumi quickly said, grabbing Ayame's arm and pulling her down the hallway, with Hinata quick to catch up, leaving the Sand ninja alone. As soon as they girls were safely down the hallway they breathed a sigh of relief. The relief quickly passed when Ayame pressed a hand to her mouth, looking like she was about to throw up again. The two girls got Ayame to the bathroom and into the nearest stall before the girl had the chance to throw up on the floor again. It seemed to be a false alarm however, as Ayame breathed deeply from her spot on the ground hugging the toilet bowl. She looked up at Yumi, a triumphant smile on her face.

"See? I told you he was my—"

And she proceeded to throw up again.


	11. Preliminaries Part 1

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry it's taking me a long time to update! I go to college next year and I'm sooo swamped trying to fill out scholarship applications and things of that nature! That and I'm having medical issues which are causing me to have panic attacks lol, but oh well! Here's the next chapter and I hope you guys like it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto only my OC's.

* * *

Naruto: Alliance of the Ninjas

Chapter 11: Preliminaries Part 1

Temari didn't know what to do but sit on the bench awkwardly and watch Kankuro pace back and forth. After Gaara had stood up for the red-headed Rain ninja he had disappeared, leaving the blonde alone with Kankuro who had immediately started ranting and raving about the two red-heads. "What the hell was that all about, huh? Since when does Gaara care about people being at 100% when fighting? Since when does he do that kinda crap? And the girl! Who did she think she was acting all cocky and confident like that when she couldn't even stand up on her own?"

"I don't know…" Temari answered honestly. "It's really odd, but maybe that girl was telling the truth when she said she was friends with Gaara."

"You really think that Gaara could've made _friends_ with someone?" Kankuro asked, disbelief lacing his tone. "That girl looks like she's all about butterflies and rainbows while Gaara thrives on hate and death. How the hell could those two mesh to become friends?"

Temari shrugged, stumped by Kankuro's question. He had to be right. There's no way those two would ever become friends. It was just impossible.

* * *

Gaara sat alone in the empty lobby room, his hand resting on his shoulder where Ayame had touched him. That moment replayed in his mind over and over again and he couldn't get her voice out of his head. She had thanked him for sticking up for her. Why he had done it in the first place, he didn't know, but he couldn't help but feel glad that he did. He had only been thanked twice in his life, and both times it was by that same girl. She had made his heart feel funny and he didn't know what to make of it.

_"Arigato Gaara-kun…"_

He felt his face start to burn again and he wondered what was happening. Why did she make his face burn? Why did she make his heart feel funny? Why did his stomach feel like there were hundreds of butterflies, flying around? It confused him, and he didn't know if it was normal. Was it a kind of attack? Was it some sort of jutsu she was using? No… it didn't seem like it. Then what was it? What it was, Gaara didn't know, but he was going to find out.

* * *

"I said I was fine! You don't have to carry me!"

Sasuke merely smirked as he and Naruto continued running along through the trees, ignoring Sakura's complaints. The group had stayed the night in the woods after Naruto and Sasuke had successfully managed to wake Sakura up and get her to eat some food. They stayed the night, allowing their pink-haired teammate to rest more before they set off early in the morning. Sasuke was carrying Sakura on his back and running through the trees while Naruto stuck close by, his head on a swivel as he looked for any enemies.

Sakura had a large blush spreading across her cheeks as she kept complaining. "I can run! You don't need to carry me, Sasuke!"

"I heard you," Sasuke said with his smirk stretching wider. "I'm just ignoring you. You need to rest."

"But I'll be dead weight!" Sakura complained.

"You're the reason we're still around to begin with. Just take a rest," Naruto added on with a large smile on his face. "We're going to be at the tower before you know it! Then we can get start the next round." The group shot off and quickly made their way to the tower, entering to see there was no one there but a banner with a riddle on it having to do with the two scrolls.

"Where are the other teams?" Naruto wondered. "They should've gotten here by now."

"Maybe it has to do with the two scrolls and that banner?" Sakura guessed as Sasuke carefully and gently lowered her to the ground. She winced a bit and placed a hand on his shoulder to steady herself, sending him a grateful smile. "I think the banner means we should open up the two scrolls now," Sakura muttered pulling out the Heaven scroll from her pouch while handing the Earth one to Naruto. The two hesitated and sent a look to Sasuke before opening the scrolls. On it were a bunch of letters and a circle with words in squiggles coming out of it. Smoke started coming from the center of the circle and Sasuke's eyes widened.

"It's a summoning jutsu! Naruto, Sakura, throw the scrolls away!"

The two holding the scrolls tossed them quickly to the center of the empty room and looked on in surprise as a smoke cloud exploded and when it cleared Iruka was standing in front of them. The genin looked on in surprise as Iruka smiled at them. "Hey, long time no see."

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked in surprise.

"All Chunin were instructed to greet the genin who arrive at the tower once they open the scrolls, and lucky me I got your group."

"Where are the other groups?" Sakura questioned.

Iruka jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "They already headed into the arena to wait for the last few groups, which happens to be your group. And lucky you, you guys are right on time. Well, now that you guys are here, I'm proud to congratulate you on passing the second stage of the exam. You guys completed this mission and I'm so very proud of you all. I'm going to get you all ramen after—"

"RAMEN! YES! FINALLY, THAT'S THE FOOD I'M TALKING ABOUT!"

"—you finish going through the next portion of your exam," Iruka finished, laughing at his former student's reactions.

"So, Iruka… what would you have done if we had open the scroll? What would you have done to us?" Sasuke challenged. Sakura and Naruto looked confused while Iruka smirked slightly.

"As usual, Sasuke, you're as sharp as a tack. All Chunin were instructed to knock out any and all genin who looked at the scrolls. Not only was this a test of your ability to complete a mission, but to insure you carry it through in its entirety, making sure you don't get tempted to look at secret documents while on a mission. Anyway, I'm proud to tell you all that you can head into the next stage. Head on in."

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei."

* * *

"The _hell_ happened?!"

Kakashi watched in interest as he stood beside the fuming woman. Emiko was screaming at her group of all girls. Chiaki's face was speckled with blood, her clothes were tattered and dirty, and dried blood was trailing down from her ears. Ayame was seated on the ground, her face was slightly flushed, groaning in pain and holding onto a bucket from in between her knees. The only one of Emiko's group who didn't look injured or sick was Yumi, but she looked like she was about ready to pull out her hair.

"Sound Ninjas."

"Dealing with these two."

"Wild berries…"

Emiko pinched the bridge of her nose and exhaled sharply, much to the amusement of the copycat ninja watching the scene. He was vaguely reminded of his own team of genin as he watched the exchanged.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi turned around and saw his team walk through the door. Kakashi's heart skipped a beat. His team looked worse off than Emiko's did. Naruto was cut up and bruised, with his clothes obviously torn and dirty. Sasuke was much in the same shape and Naruto except that he had a blood stained bandage on his thigh and had an odd chakra being emitted from his body. And Sakura—the little flower of their group—looked like she had taken one hell of a beating. She walked with a limp, there were cuts and bruises on her face and arms, and her hair was cut off.

"Hello guys, I see you made it," Kakashi said, keeping his tone happy and even as to not betray his anger. His team explained to him everything that they had endured and gone through. Sakura had enthusiastically explained how admirably Naruto and Sasuke fought, and Sasuke and Naruto had continued gushing—Kakashi made a note that Sasuke was never one to gush but did so now—about how Sakura had protected and saved them. He smiled under his mask and placed a hand on Sakura's hair. "You've all done well, and I'm especially proud of you Sakura for watching out for the idiots. And I do like what you've done with your hair."

"Hey! What do you mean by idiots?!"

* * *

It was a few minutes later when all of the jounin responsible for the squads of genin were lined up behind the Hokage, near the other Chunin. Anko congratulated the genin for passing the test and informed them that out of the starting genin, only nine squads made it to the third part of the exam. She then passed it over to the Hokage who explained the meaning and purpose behind the Chunin exams; representing ones' nation with honor, showing the might of the military in a land and gain future business. Afterwards, a jounin named Hayate appeared and asked to speak to the genin.

He quickly informed them that there was a large amount of genin that had passed the second stage and that there were to be one-on-one sudden death matches between all of the genin in order for the winners to advance to the third stage of the exams. Upon saying this, Kabuto cleared his throat.

"I respectfully withdraw. I sustained an injury in the forest and I don't believe I'll be able to perform to the best of my abilities," Kabuto stated.

Hayate nodded. "Very well… are there any other genin who wish to withdraw at this point in time."

Sakura, who was standing in line behind Sasuke, looked at his back in worry, wondering how he would hold up. She noticed move the slightest bit as he turned his head to look at her. She wondered what he was looking at before she understood. "I'm not giving up," Sakura whispered stubbornly. Sasuke's eyes narrowed the slightest bit before he smirked and turned back around. When no one else withdrew Hayate nodded.

"Very well, let's begin," Hayate said, pointing to the large screen mounted on the wall behind the jounin. "The matches will be randomly selected by the computer. The names of all the remaining genin have been placed into the system and shall be randomized. And the first match will be…" The computer screen jumbled names together, causing the genin to hold their breath when they saw their names blur by for the briefest of seconds. The computer stopped.

Uchiha Sasuke vs. Akado Yoroi

"Now, I'll ask all other genin excluding those scheduled to fight first to head up to the viewing deck above the arena. Sasuke and Yoroi, please remain here," Hayate informed.

The genin, chunin, and jounin all started to move to leave the battleground. On their way out Naruto and Sakura wished Sasuke luck and Kakashi stopped to speak to Sasuke. "I know what happened to you in the forest. You use that new power you have and I'll be forced to stop the match. Don't push my hand and we'll deal with your new… tattoo… after these preliminaries."

Sasuke looked at Kakashi before nodding. "Understood."

* * *

"Awesome view," Naruto commented as he leaned over the railing to see his teammate getting to his spot standing directly across from Yoroi on the ground. "This'll be a great place to watch the fights from!"

"That's why it's called a 'viewing deck'," Sakura pointed out, causing Naruto to pout and Kakashi to chuckle.

"Oi, Kakashi," Kakashi looked up to see Emiko walking towards him with her group in tow. "Mind if we watch these matches near you guys?"

Kakashi smiled. "Not at all, feel free."

"As will we!" Guy announced, dragging his team to stand on the other side of Kakashi's team. Kakashi sighed under his mask and shook his head, knowing that Guy was going to somehow make everything into a competition. Kurenai stood on Guy's other side while Asuma stood with his team by Kurenai's. The Sound ninja stood far off with their jounin, as did the Grass ninja that had passed. The Sand ninja stood separate but closest to Emiko's team.

Guy looked over at Emiko and appeared in front of her in an instant, reaching for her hand. "My, my, who is this breathtaking angel?" Guy asked. Emiko raised an eyebrow and wrinkled her nose a bit, obviously not at all happy with the man with the bowl cut and spandex invading her personal space. Kakashi sighed. So this was going to be the next competition…

"Guy, this is Emiko. Emiko this is Guy."

Guy smiled. "Well well, Emiko such a beautiful name for a beautiful—"

"Oh god, _I'm_ going to throw up," Chiaki groaned, not wanting to see the exchange between her mentor and the odd man, earning a pout from Ayame who still held onto her precious bucket tightly.

Yumi cleared her throat. "The match is starting…"

Immediately everyone turned to see Hayate beginning the match. Sasuke went to use his fire style jutsu but as soon as he tried the curse seal began causing him massive pain. Yoroi took advantage of Sasuke's hesitation and shot off to grab Sasuke's forehead and forced him to the ground. Sasuke's eyes widened as he felt his chakra start to be drained. He kicked Yoroi off of him and looked up to Kakashi for confirmation. The slight nod that Kakashi gave confirmed that Sasuke's chakra had been being drained.

_Damn it… I can't use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu because of this seal… and I could use Taijutsu, but if I get too close this guy is just going to drain my chakra… and I don't have much to begin with. I'm going to have to knock this guy out with my first attack… and thankfully there is this one that I've wanted to try out._

Sasuke smirked and used his speed to get directly underneath Yoroi and kicked his chin so he flew up into the air. Sasuke jumped up after them, kicking him repeatedly in the stomach and ribs before he flipped over and delivered a well placed kick to the center of Yoroi's rib cage as he hit the ground. "Lion's Barrage!" Sasuke shouted out the name of his attack. Yoroi coughed up blood as the impact hit and Yoroi blacked out.

Hayate coughed and stepped forward. "The winner of this match is Uchiha Sasuke."

Immediately the medical team appeared to take Yoroi away to get checked out in the hospital. Kakashi appeared on the field a few seconds later and put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "I'll be just a minute. I must speak with Sasuke." With that the two disappeared.

"Why did Kakashi-sensei take Sasuke?" Naruto asked in confusion. Sakura shrugged. Emiko raised an eyebrow before her face shone realization. She looked towards her redhead charge and gave her a questioning look. Ayame looked up from where she was crouched down on the ground and nodded in her sensei's direction.

"Dara Chiaki vs. Koga Mizuiro!" Hayate shouted up to the stands. Chiaki grinned form her spot next to her teammates. She undid her forehead protector from around her waist and placed it on her forehead where it belonged before she turned to walk down. Before she made it two steps however Emiko caught her arm. Chiaki raised her eyebrow in confusion as Emiko stared at her seriously.

"Tai-jutsu only and don't show strength," Emiko muttered under her breath.

Chiaki groaned but nodded her agreement before heading down to the battleground, standing across from a male grass ninja. Hayate stood off to the side and looked at both competitors. Mizuiro tensed into a fighting stance, while Chiaki stood there with her arms crossed, looking very annoyed and bored. "Begin!"

Mizuiro shot off after Chiaki, aiming a punch at the girls face. Chiaki merely side stepped the boy and raised her leg to kick him in the stomach sending him flying back to where he had originally jumped from. Chiaki didn't let him get up from the ground. She jumped after him and punched him in the jaw eliciting a _CRACK_, before kicking him into the wall, causing a dent to appear, shocking the boy by the power she possessed. Chiaki smirked maliciously at the boy before she appeared in front of him suddenly and pulled out a kunai, raising in threateningly over the boys head.

"I submit!" The boy shrieked as Chiaki brought the kunai down. Chiaki stopped herself with the tip of the blade barely touching Mizuiro's nose. Chiaki frowned and stood up.

"I thought I'd have more time to toy with you," Chiaki snorted.

"The winner is Dara Chiaki!" Hayate announced. Chiaki walked back up to the stands with a smile on her face while Mizuiro trudged behind Chiaki looking frightened by the blonde girl in front of him. Emiko looked mildly annoyed by the girl.

"I told you to cut back."

Chiaki rolled her eyes. "You know that's not even half of what I can do."

Emiko sighed at the blonde but said nothing else. "Good job, Chiaki," Ayame spoke up from the ground. Chiaki smiled and ruffled the girls' hair before fist-bumping Yumi.

"Now you girls just need to continue the win streak," Chiaki grinned.

"Aburame Shino vs. Abumi Zaku," Hayate called out.

"Good luck Shino!" Hinata smiled towards her teammate as he headed down to the field.

Just before the match started, Ayame started to heave and looked miserable. Emiko bent down to become level with the girl and rubbed her back soothingly. The people immediately around the female team all started to look on; including a strong redhead who watched the scene with interest. "What kind of berries did you eat?" Emiko asked the girl.

"T-They were red…" Ayame started. "And… had white leaves…"

"Those aren't poisonous."

Everyone turned to look at Kurenai who had spoken up. The woman narrowed her eyes in concern and frowned. "Those berries are actually used by our medical teams here quiet often for their medicinal purposes. They shouldn't have this sort of reaction."

"M-Maybe it's an a-allergic reaction?" Hinata suggested.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like that could be it! Ayame's probably allergic! Nice work Hinata!"

The girl blushed.

Emiko nodded. "That's probably it. Chiaki go take Ayame to the bathroom so she doesn't throw up in here. Bring her back when she's feeling better."

"Aw, but she's gonna throw up," Chiaki muttered in annoyance. At the glare Emiko leveled her way, Chiaki sighed. "Fine, let's go princess," Chiaki grumbled helping Ayame to her feet and all but dragging the girl away to the bathrooms. "You're feeling lighter," Chiaki pointed out as she continued to drag the girl along to the bathroom. "Have you been able to keep anything down since you ate those berries?"

Ayame shook her head miserably. "N-No…"

"Figures that out of all the berries you eat you get an allergic reaction."

Ayame grinned sheepishly as they entered the bathroom and Chiaki helped the redhead into an open stall. Ayame soon started throwing up once again, causing Chiaki to wrinkle her nose in disgust. "C-Chiaki…?"

"Yeah, what's up Ayame?" Chiaki asked, wiping the disgusted look off of her face to help her friend.

"I don't feel well."

"Well, _that_ much was obvious."

"No…" Ayame mumbled. She turned around looked at Chiaki, a desperate and sad look on her face. "I feel like I'm getting worse. It's… not right."

Chiaki frowned. Ayame never said things like that. Ayame was the strong one of the group, never complaining and always completing missions without fail even if she worked past the point of exhaustion. She would always have a smile on her face and she kept Chiaki and Yumi motivated and moving. Ayame never seemed so worried and confused just because she was tired or sick or wasn't feeling well. Chiaki crouched down by her friend. "Do you want me to tell Emiko-sensei? We can pull you out of this exam right—"

"No, don't pull me out."

"Ayame, if you're not at one hundred percent—"

Ayame gave Chiaki a look. "I don't need to be at one hundred percent to beat half these people."

Chiaki smirked. "True, but do you still want to go through with this."

"I want to do this. I can do this."


	12. Preliminaries Part 2

A/N: Alright guys this is part two of the preliminaries! Next chapter will be part three and it'll show a bit of what happens after the preliminaries before it skips like a week. Also, you start learning some interesting information on Chiaki, Yumi, Emiko, and Ayame with the next couple chapters that are on the way! I'd love to know what you guys think about it! Anyway, here it is!

Disclaimer: I don't own Nartuo, only my OC's.

* * *

Naruto: Alliance of the Ninjas

Chapter 12: Preliminaries Part 2

"You guys missed two fights!" Naruto called out as soon as Chiaki and Ayame walked back in. The blonde and redhead walked over to the group of Genin only to see that their other teammate wasn't there.

"Shino won against that creep Zaku, though Zaku's arms kinda exploded…" Sakura trailed off before shaking her head, informing the two girls on what they missed. "And that weirdo Kankuro beat his opponent. Yumi was just called down to fight against one of those Grass ninjas."

"Oh, that won't last long," Chiaki smirked, going to lean against the railing after helping Ayame to sit on the ground so she could reclaim her bucket.

"How can you be so sure about that?" Neji asked, still staring at the field below where Yumi and the Grass Ninja prepared for their fight.

Chiaki snorted. "Well, for one, we're Rain nin. And two, in order to make it fair that Grass nin would need at least four other people fighting with him."

"Begin!" Hayate called out.

Yumi wasted no time pulling out six kunai and hurling them at the Grass nin, who only had time to block three of the kunai while the other three hit him in the arm, leg, and side. Yumi then began rushing him, using her kunai to deflect the four that had been sent her way. She smirked and reached into her back pouch and produced five kunai. She leaped into the air and spun while throwing the kunai at the boy upside down. None of the kunai hit their mark as they landed into the ground. The boy laughed at her as soon as she landed on the ground.

"You didn't even hit me!"

"I didn't need to," Yumi smirked as she pulled out a sixth kunai and pulling it towards herself.

Her opponent looked at her in confusion before he felt himself being constricted. He dropped the kunai in his hand on the ground as he looked and saw all the thin, practically invisible wires wrapped around his body and attached to the kunai embedded into the ground. Yumi drove the last kunai in her hand into the ground, restricting any movement. She then pulled out a paper bomb from her pouch. The Grass ninja looked horrified.

"Now, if you don't submit right now, I'll put this on your face and just watch the aftermath. It really doesn't matter to me, but I'd rather not get my clothes bloodstained already. Do you know how hard that is to wash out? Not to mention brain matter is just murder on clothes," Yumi said conversationally, stalking closer with the paper bomb in her hand menacingly.

"I submit! I submit!" The Grass nin screamed in fright. Yumi continued to walk forward with the bomb in her hand. "I submit!" He shouted again.

"I heard you the first time," Yumi laughed and kicked one of the kunai out of place, freeing the frightened boy. "God, you're skittish."

"The winner of this match is Sori Yumi!"

"Told you," Chiaki smirked, as Yumi and the Grass nin made their way up to the viewing area. "Nice work, Yumi. I thought he was going to cry."

Yumi shrugged and smiled a bit. "I'm pretty sure he _was_ going to cry."

"Now we just need to have the little princess go so that we can have a clean sweep," Chiaki smiled, messing up Ayame's hair again. The redhead merely pouted and held onto the bars of the railing, swinging her legs back and forth between the openings, still looking slightly pale.

Emiko snorted. "And we all know that she will."

"Hm, so confident, are we?"

The group of genin all jumped while the jounin merely turned to look at Kakashi who had just reappeared with Sasuke in tow. Emiko smirked at Kakashi but didn't give him an answer. Sasuke looked to be in pain, but was trying his best to hide it. Sakura looked at him with concern. "Are you okay?"

Sasuke nodded, and forced a smile. "I'm fine."

"Haruno Sakura vs. Yamanaka Ino!"

Immediately all conversations ceased as the two girls looked up and met each other's eyes. No words were exchanged. Ino and Sakura merely turned and began walking down to the field, ignoring the words of encouragement from their friends. Sakura limped a bit the entire way down, but it did nothing to wipe away the confident and determined look on her face. The two stood opposite each other and still said nothing.

"Of all the people for Ino to fight, it would end up being Sakura wouldn't it?" Shikamaru sighed, shaking his head. "What a mess."

"C'mon Sakura! You can do this!" Naruto cheered for his friend.

Choji frowned. "You got this Ino!"

Both girls ignored their teammates.

"Begin!"

The two didn't even hesitate for a moment before they shot off after one another, throwing punches and kicks. Sakura aimed a punch for Ino's head which the blonde easily deflected before aiming her own kick for the pink-haired girl. Sakura jumped up and over it and winced as she landed, her ankle protesting. Ino noticed the hesitation and quickly punching Sakura in the stomach before reeling back to punch Sakura in the face. Ino wavered however as she uncurled her fist in time to slap the pink-haired girl instead of punch her.

"Is that as tough as kunoichi get in battle?" Neji scoffed.

"Shut the hell up, you long-haired ass," Chiaki hissed.

Tenten nodded. "Their using kids gloves Neji, it doesn't matter that their girls."

Neji merely remained silent.

Sakura stood there in shock, as did many of the onlookers. Sakura glared at Ino before jumping back to her spot, ignoring her ankle this time. "Say Ino-Pig, wanna tell everyone how you were hiding in the bushes at the exam like a coward? How Ayame had to give you your scroll in order for you to get this far?" Sakura taunted, glaring at the girl. "You're just a coward Ino, and you can't fight for shit!"

"Y-You…" Ino seethed through clenched teeth. "You talk a pretty big game Billboard-Brow, but you have yet to back it up! Always hiding behind your little teammates! I'm no coward and I can beat your ass any day of the week!"

"So bring it on!"

Ino blinked in surprise before a smirk found its way onto Ino's face. "So… that was what it was about."

Sakura reached her hands up and undid her forehead protector from around her head and tying it back around her forehead, where it was meant to be. The action caused Ino to stand in shock for a moment before Ino mirrored her, removing her protector from around her waist and placing it on her forehead. The two girls stood there for a moment before shooting after one another again, aiming a punch at one another. Their fists collided, sending a backlash of chakra that everyone felt.

Kakashi smiled underneath his mask. "Looks like things are getting serious."

"Huh… I kinda like the spunk that pink-haired girl has. You said she's your friend Ayame?" Emiko asked looking to her redhead. Ayame, who had had her head resting against the rails watching the fight silently, looked up and nodded. Emiko smiled. "Hm… I hope she wins."

Sakura charged at Ino, making two clones of herself. Ino merely snorted. "You really think you can beat me with that?!" Ino paused and looked carefully at Sakura's feet, trying to figure out which clone was the real one. Her eyes widened when she saw that there was chakra underneath all their feet. The three clones attacked, two disappearing while the real Sakura punched Ino away so she landed on the ground.

"I'm not just some crybaby anymore Ino, now get up and give me your best!" Sakura demanded, taking a moment to catch her breath. Her ankle was beginning to bother her again.

"Damn it…" Sasuke muttered under his breath. He could tell that Sakura wasn't trying to put pressure on her ankle, even if she had performed an impressive attack. He wasn't even sure _he_ would've been able to pull that off as good as she did, but still she was injured and that was going to play a huge factor in the fight.

The fight raged on for ten minutes, both girls exchanging blows, and neither of them seeming to let up. Ino growled. "This wasn't supposed to happen! How could you be so evenly matched with me?"

"Well, while you've been obsessing over your hair and looks, I've been training! So you keep trying to maintain your hair and skin, while I keep getting stronger!"

Ino glared at Sakura. "You really think that you're the only one who can get stronger? And this," Ino spat grabbing at her hair and pulling out a kunai. "This means nothing to me!" Ino shouted, dragging the kunai across her ponytail and cutting off her long blonde locks, just as Sakura had done in the forest. Ino held it up and threw it across the field at Sakura. "I'm ending this now!" Ino shouted making a hand sign. "Mind Transfer Jutsu!" Ino shouted, just as Sakura started running.

The two girls froze and Ino fell to the ground in a crouch, with her head down. Sakura looked up and smirked at Ino. "Looks like you missed," Sakura said, going to move forward. Her eyes widened when she realized she couldn't move.

"Did you _really_ think I would be that stupid?" Ino scoffed, looking up at Sakura. "I've got you trapped Sakura. Don't think cutting my hair was just a fashion statement. I've infused my chakra with my hair and I've used it as a wire, catching you in my trap." Sakura looked down in shock to see that she was standing in Ino's hair and that there was a chakra wire wrapped around her ankles. "It's a bit unorthodox, but without Shikamaru to immobilize you I figured this was the best way to end this fight. Now be a good girl and stand there while I end this fight. Ninja Arts: Mind Transfer Jutsu!"

Sakura's body went rigid as Ino slumped to the ground. This time when Sakura looked up, there was a smug smirk that everyone knew did not belong to the pink-haired kunoichi. "Shit, this isn't good," Sasuke muttered.

"Fight back Sakura!" Naruto shouted out.

"Don't lay down for her, Sakura! Keep fighting, I know you can do this!" Ayame called out before coughing and reaching for her bucket and dry heaving.

"C'mon Sakura, break free!" Sasuke screamed.

Ino, now in Sakura's body, looked back at them and snorted. "Sorry, but Sakura's not here right now. I'm in control. And now I'm ending this." Ino raised Sakura's hand and smirked. "I, Haruno Sakura sub—" Ino was cut off as she felt something in Sakura's mind. Looking into her mind, Ino's smug face turned to one of horror as Sakura appeared before her, growing to massive proportions.

**"Get out of my head Ino!"** **Inner** **Sakura** shouted at Ino, grabbing the blonde and crushing her in her hands. **"Or else you'll die in here."**

_"W-What are you? You shouldn't be here! You're a monster!"_

**"GET THE HELL OUT!"**

Hayate watched the silent pink-haired girl in confusion. "Did you say you want to give up?"

"HELL NO I DON'T WANT TO GIVE UP!" Sakura shouted, at Hayate, causing the man to flinch back a bit. "NOW INO GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HEAD!"

Kakashi's eyes widened. "She's taking control…"

"RELEASE!" Sakura shouted, making a hand sign.

There was a moment of silence as Ino's head shot up and she glared at Sakura with a mixture of confusion and annoyance as Sakura fell to her knees and began breathing deeply. "The hell is wrong with you? How do you have two spirits?"

"I'm as tough as I am beautiful," Sakura laughed. "A girl has to be tough is she's going to survive this."

Kakashi looked at the girl under his care and couldn't help smiling. _Once you're caught in that jutsu it is incredibly hard to break free. Ino's lack of chakra contributed to that but mostly Sakura's heart and determination led to her breaking free. But they must both be out of chakra by now. This battle is going to end and it's going to end with brute force…_

Sakura and Ino both got up from the ground and charged at each other, with their fists reeled back. "This ends right now!" They both shouted in unison before punching each other in the face. Both attacks hit, right on the other girls' cheek and sent both Sakura and Ino flying back, knocking their forehead protectors off and sending them scattering to the ground beside their owners. The two girls began to push themselves up once again before passing out simultaneously on the battlefield.

"This match ends in a draw!" Hayate announced after a moment of shock.

Kakashi and Asuma shared a look before they both appeared onto the battlefield, each walking to their individual genin. A team of medical nin were already moving towards the scene and checking over each girl. Ino checked out okay, but Sakura was a different matter. "Her ankle is badly injured," the medical ninja spoke up, healing her injuries. "And she had more injuries sustained from the forest. Why this girl didn't speak up is beyond me."

Kakashi couldn't help the swell of pride he felt for Sakura, but it was then overshadowed by worry. It took only two minutes before Sakura was cleared by the medical nin and Asuma and Kakashi carried their girls up to the viewing deck. Sasuke, Naruto, Lee, Ayame, Chiaki, Yumi, Shikamaru, and Choji all crowded around the three girls, asking if they were alright.

"They're just sleeping, let them rest," Asuma assured.

"The next match will be between Kensei Tenten and Sabaku no Temari," Hayate announced.

The two girls snapped their heads up in surprise before heading down to the field. The genin all turned to watch the fight excluding Sasuke who stood back against the wall to look after Sakura. He looked at the sleeping girl and smiled. _And you had the nerve to call yourself a burden…_

* * *

Temari and Tenten's battle ended quickly with Temari savagely picking apart the weapons mistress. Gaara hadn't been paying much attention to the fight, if he was being honest. All he really remembered was the idiot in the green jumpsuit getting involved and shouting at Temari as he fussed over his unconscious teammate. He ignored the next match that had to do with the other member from the blonde girls' team, and he ignored the one right after that had to do with the hyperactive blonde idiot that was on Uchiha's squad. He was starting to get incredibly bored as he was forced to watch the next fight that apparently had some sibling rivalry going on. He had been ignoring all the fights, and instead had been finding his attention drifting over to the redhead rain ninja sitting on the ground with her head resting on the bars.

Gaara had noticed that Ayame didn't seem to look any better since she had shown up at the Tower sick two days ago. Thankfully, she had stopped throwing up after returning from the bathroom, but he could tell she was still sick. Her face was extremely pale and she had stopped talking. Since her outburst during the pink haired girls' fight, Ayame had been eerily silent, only looking on at the fights with a blank stare.

And again Gaara found his heart hurting again as he watched the sick girl.

_What is wrong with me? Why is this happening?_ _Is this normal? It can't be, can it? Maybe I should ask Temari about it…_

"Maki Ayame vs. Naraku Jin!"

Gaara's attention immediately went to the redhead girl and saw that she had sat up slightly, her eyes becoming more alert.

"Alright, you're up Ayame," Yumi smiled, helping her friend to her feet.

Ayame nodded and started to walk before Emiko caught her arm. Ayame paused and looked back at her sensei. Emiko narrowed her eyes at Ayame in worry. "Keep your strength under wraps and if you need to get pulled out, don't hesitate, you hear me? I don't want you to get hurt out there."

Ayame gave her a weak smile and nodded.

"Hey, Ayame, your forehead protector," Chiaki pointed out, gesturing to Ayame's neck. "Put it on."

Ayame blinked and looked down in surprise before untying her forehead protector and placing it on her forehead. "Right, thanks," Ayame said, before turning around and heading down to the field where the female Grass ninja Jin was already waiting.

"Is she okay to be fighting?" Sakura asked worriedly, looking at the Rain ninja.

Naruto nodded in agreement. "She doesn't look too good."

Emiko nodded. "Even on a sick day Ayame could beat that Grass ninja."

* * *

Ayame stood in front of her opponent, looking her over slightly. The girl had short bluish hair and dark eyes, and had a cocky look on her face. The redhead frowned at the girl across from her. Ayame knew she could take on Jin without difficulties, but her stomach felt like there was a white hot kunai being stabbed into it, and her head was starting to spin slightly. It also didn't help that it was getting harder to breathe. Ayame would have to end the fight fast, that she knew.

"Begin!"

Ayame narrowed her eyes and jumped out of the way of the kunai being thrown her way. Ayame twisted into the air before landing gracefully on her feet. As soon as she landed, however, the world started to spin again. She just managed to pull out a kunai to deflect the four being hurled at her face once she got her barings. She shook her head before narrowing her eyes at Jin, who had started tossing shuriken, trying to stay as far away from Ayame as possible. Ayame ducked underneath the projectiles and tossed two kunai at Jin, both which missed the girl. Ayame frowned before diving out of the way of more projectiles. The redhead knew that if they continued on like this then they'd just run out of weapons, so Ayame put her kunai away and ran forward to engage the girl in hand to hand combat.

The two exchanged blows. Ayame landing a few successful punches while Jin managed to catch the redhead in the jaw, causing the two to jump back away from each other to assess their injuries and come up with strategies.

"The hell is she doing?" Chiaki asked in confusion, looking at her teammate. "Why is she toying with her?"

Yumi shook her head in confusion. "I don't think she is…"

"Bull crap," Chiaki spoke up. "She has to be."

Kiba frowned. "Your girl Ayame doesn't look like she's all there."

The group watched as Ayame started coughing violently into her hand. The redhead pulled back and looked at her hand before freezing and shaking in her spot. She turned to look at her sensei above her and held up her shaking hand in shock. Emiko's eyes widened at the red substance on Ayame's palm. "B-Blood…" Ayame managed to say before she noticed a kunai being thrown at her again.

The Rain ninjas all paled.

"What the hell happened in that forest?" Emiko demanded, rounding on her two charges. Yumi and Chiaki looked up at the raven-haired jounin with wide eyes. Both girls shared a confused look before turning back to their sensei.

"A-Ayame ate wild berries and—"

"Those berries shouldn't be causing this," Kurenai reminded them.

Chiaki shook her head. "She has to be allergic—"

"That doesn't look like an allergy," Asuma pointed out, narrowing his eyes at the redhead who had just been kicked across the field by Jin.

Emiko looked over at Ayame before glaring back at her two charges. "What happened? You know as well as I do that Ayame doesn't perform like that even if she's sick! What happened in the forest?"

"If I may," Kakashi spoke up, moving to take a closer look at Ayame, who had just managed to grab Jin and toss her away. "Ayame, what are you feeling right now?" Kakashi called out to the girl.

Ayame looked up at the Copy Cat ninja in confusion before ducking under a kick and kicking Jin's feet out from under her. "I c-can't breathe right… my head is spinning, my stomach is _not_ cooperating… I'm tired…" Ayame mumbled out before flipping over a shuriken.

Kakashi nodded before turning back to Emiko. "It seems like your girl has been poisoned."

The Rain ninja froze.

"Poisoned?" Sakura asked when no one else did. "How?"

"I'm not sure, but she seems to be exhibiting all the tell-tale signs of poisoning. And by the way she's been throwing up and her breathing is shallow, and how her head is spinning, it's one that is attacking all of her bodily systems."

"Oh my God…" Yumi muttered, catching the attention of everyone. She looked to Emiko with wide eyes. "I-In the forest, we had gotten attacked by this group of ninja. They weren't wearing any forehead protectors and they looked shady. We thought nothing of it but, one of them managed to scratch Ayame in the cheek with a kunai."

Emiko's eyes widened. "Oh shit." Immediately Emiko turned to look at the battle going on before her and saw that Ayame had a few cuts and bruises and was breathing heavily, though the other girl looked worse for wear. "Ayame, either submit or wrap this up now! You were poisoned!"

Ayame looked up at her sensei in shock before she nodded a bit as her words sunk in. That _would_ make sense. After all, she'd seen what poison could do to people, courtesy of her brother, but still it didn't make the announcement seem any less dire. Her vision had started to blur a minute ago, and she could tell she was getting sluggish. If this kept up she would have to…

Ayame shook her head and bit her lip hard until it bled, trying to maintain some clarity. She couldn't let that happen. Ayame looked to Emiko, for any sort of confirmation as to what she should do. Emiko made a random gesture that Ayame immediately caught. She had been given the okay to use Ninjutsu. The redhead had enough chakra left for what she planned. Ayame jumped up into the air, using her leg strength to reach the ceiling before she flipped around and channeled chakra into her feet so she was kneeling on the ceiling. She closed her eyes, hoping that she didn't empty her stomach again as she made a hand-sign, crossing her index and middle fingers over one another in a cross.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Immediately well over fifty Shadow Clones of Ayame appeared on the field, all of them holding kunai and glaring at Jin maliciously. "Attack!" Ayame gave the order and soon waves of her clones were tackling and jumping on Jin stabbing, punching, and kicking the poor Grass ninja.

"I submit!" Jin managed to scream out as she tried to get away from the clones, kunai sticking out from her back and legs like a porcupine as other clones rushed to attack her. Immediately the clones disappeared.

"The winner of this fight is Maki Ayame!"

Ayame was only vaguely aware of them announcing her name as the winner. She was only vaguely aware of the fact that she was starting to lose feeling in her legs and torso. She only vaguely felt the wind as it rushed past her as she lost her chakra control and started falling towards the ground. The world was going black and she was just so tired. Something soft and odd wrapped around her and she turned her head slightly to see that was surrounded by something brown, holding her in a sort of embrace. She felt the grainy texture beneath her fingertips and managed a smile as she took comfort in the feeling. She noticed Emiko near her, screaming something at her but she couldn't hear. It felt like she was far away. And before she knew it her eyes were fluttering shut and she was plunged into a world of darkness.


	13. Preliminaries Part 3

A/N: Hey everyone! I'm glad you guys liked last chapter! This chapter is going to be the last one regarding preliminaries and then we have a chapter or two before the finals! Then that's where all my ideas and plots start coming together! I can already tell there is a part that you guys are probably gonna be like 'what the hell?' at in one of the next two chapters, but I assure you there is a good reason as to why I'm doing what I'm doing and I hope you guys like it! Anyway, this chapter is Gaara vs. Lee! I really hope you guys like it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, only my OC's.

* * *

Naruto: Alliance of the Ninjas

Chapter 13: Preliminaries Part 3

"GET A DAMN MEDIC!" Emiko shouted, lifting Ayame's unconscious form from the thin layer of sand that had caught her from hitting the ground. She had no idea where the sand had come from, but she wasn't really concerned about that at that very moment. She started running to the doors when the medical ninja ran in with a stretcher for the redhead. One of the larger medics tried to take Ayame from Emiko's grasp only to be met with resistance from the woman as she glared back at him.

A hand being placed on Emiko's shoulder surprises her. She turned to look up at Kakashi, who had a serious look in his visible eye. "Let them do their jobs Emiko, Ayame will be fine." Emiko stared at Kakashi before looking at the unconscious girl in her arms.

"Save her or you'll be in a world of hurt," Emiko threatened the medic before placing Ayame on the stretcher. The medics quickly began to run through the doors with the redhead. Emiko moved to follow only to be restrained by Kakashi again. This time Emiko glared at the silver-haired man.

"Hovering won't do any good," Kakashi advised. "Trust me; we've got some of the best medics around."

Emiko said nothing but jumped back up to the viewing area, and over to her charges, with Kakashi a half-second behind. Chiaki and Yumi looked frightened and worried and Emiko's glare quickly subsided as she looked to the two girls. "It wasn't your fault, but next time something like this happens, you tell me of any injury she sustains, understood?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Sabaku no Gaara vs. Rock Lee."

Silence filled the area as Gaara, looked up at the screen briefly before heading down to the field. Lee, looked at his opponent and followed his example.

* * *

_Why did my sand save her? Why did it move to catch her? I didn't consciously do it, did I? _

Gaara mulled over all these thoughts as he made his way to the center of the field, where Ayame had just fought. He hadn't tried to catch the redhead, and he hadn't wanted his heart to stop for the briefest of seconds when she fell. He didn't want to feel the hole forming in his stomach when he heard the word 'poison' being thrown around, and he didn't know what any of these reactions meant. He didn't know why he wanted to go and make sure that Ayame hadn't died.

Watching the idiot in the green jumpsuit jump around on his toes in front of him, Gaara was reminded about the one thing he did know.

Gaara knew that he was _not _going to lose this match.

"Begin!"

Lee immediately shot after Gaara, who had stood there with his arms crossed. "Leaf Hurricane!" Lee shouted, aiming a kick for Gaara's head, only to have sand appear and block his attack. Lee's eyes widened, but he quickly recovered, aiming more kicks and punches at the redhead only to have Gaara stand there staring at him as if he was an idiot while the sand moved and blocked every attack. It even started to swarm Lee but the Taijutsu expert quickly pulled out his kunai and cut past the sand and jumped out of the way.

"Sand…" Emiko muttered, raising an eyebrow in confusion_. So… that boy had been the one to catch Ayame, huh? Let's just see what he can do._

"How is he doing that?" Naruto asked in shock.

Kankuro snorted. "He's not doing anything. The sand is. It's almost like a living thing, protecting Gaara whenever he needs it, so he's not doing anything. That's why he's never lost a fight or gotten a scratch. No one can even touch him."

"He's only using Taijutsu," Sasuke pointed out, narrowing his eyes at Lee as he watched the green clad boy get thrown into the wall by the sand before he started to try and attack Gaara again. "It's not going to work."

"Why doesn't he get distance and use Ninjutsu?" Sakura asked looking to Guy.

Guy nodded and merely watched his protégé fight in front of him. "That would be a good idea, if he had any. Lee has no Ninjutsu or Genjutsu skills at all," Guy explained, chancing a look to the pink-haired girl. He soon noticed that all of the genin and even Kurenai and Emiko were giving him their attention. Guy grinned at Kakashi who only rolled his one visible eye at the fact that Guy was excited that everyone was paying attention to him. "You should've seen him when I first met him. No talent at all. But of course, I molded him into the excellent fighter he is today!"

Everyone snapped their attention back to the fight in time to see Lee slip and get engulfed by sand. Or what _looked_ to be him getting engulfed in sand. A green blur caught everyone's attention as they saw Lee back flipping out of the way and onto one of the statues in the battlefield. "A ninja with no Ninjutsu or Genjutsu is certainly rare and Lee only has his Ninjutsu to rely on," Guy spoke up, gaining everyone's attention again. Some might consider that a disadvantage, but that's what makes him a winner. Take em off Lee!"

Lee looked over at Guy in confusion. "But Guy-sensei you said that was only in case of emergencies to protect the lives of people I care about."

"Yes, but this is an exception! Take em off!"

Lee grinned and started pulling off his leg warmers, only to reveal the fact that he was wearing training weights. Emiko raised an eyebrow. "Those are just standard leg weights," she spoke up in confusion as to why that was so monumental. Guy merely smirked.

"Watch, my dear Emiko, just watch."

Lee pulled off both training weights before placing his leg warmers back on, while Gaara watched in annoyance. Lee smiled as he held a weight in each hand, holding them over the sides of the statue he was standing on. "That is much better! Now I'll be able to move freely!" Lee smiled, dropping the weights. As soon as they hit the ground two craters formed. Kakashi looked at Guy.

"You're too much."

Guy merely smirked.

Lee took off, moving at extremely fast speeds. Gaara's eyes widened as he felt a fist close to his face, and turned to see Lee there before the boy disappeared and there was a gust of wind by his leg. His sand was blocking the blows, but not by much and Lee was just getting faster and faster. Lee's fist was directly next to Gaara's face, causing the boy to try and watch his movements, but only able to catch glimpses of him.

"Lee had no talent for Ninjutsu or Genjutsu," Guy continued on, only no one dared look away from the fight. "So we skipped those altogether and focused all of his time and energy on developing his Taijutsu, turning his disadvantage into a blessing. You see he doesn't need those other things to win, because he's transformed himself in to the world's greatest Taijutsu specialist."

Just as the words escaped Guy's mouth, Lee managed to get by Gaara's defenses and kick the boy in the back of the head. Everyone gasped in shock as they saw the small scratch on Gaara's cheek. Temari's eyes widened in shock as she grabbed the railing, and tightened her grip. _Gaara got injured… I don't believe it!_

"NOW LEE! LET THE POWER OF YOUTH EXPLODE!"

Kakashi shook his head. "He's doing so well, and you have to go and ruin his moment."

Guy ignored the comment as Lee took off after Gaara again, who had tried to manually control the sand. Lee got behind his defenses and punched Gaara away, sending the redhead to the ground. "He's so fast…" Sasuke muttered in shock and also in intrigue. _Huh… so speed is his thing?_

"Oh no…" Kankuro muttered darkly.

Naruto smirked. "That's right, 'oh no', your friend is getting the stuffing beat out of him!"

"That's not what I was talking about," Kankuro retorted as he pointed to where more sand was pooling out of Gaara's gourd and to his feet. More shockingly was the fact that pieces of Gaara's face was falling off and to the ground, turning into sand.

Chiaki's eyes widened. "The hell is happening to him?"

"What is he doing?" Neji asked, looking towards Kankuro for answers.

Kankuro shook his head helplessly, looking as worried as the others did. "Gaara's never been hurt before, so he's never been pushed this far before. He's _very_ violent and _very_ unstable, and he doesn't have a good temper…"

"His shell is coming off," Temari pointed out, sharing a scared glance with Kankuro.

Yumi raised an eyebrow. "His shell?"

"He covers himself in a layer of sand as a second defense, which is essentially his shell," Temari explained.

"That's so freaky…" Ino commented.

Shikamaru nodded. "Just what is this guy?"

Kankuro noticed the bloodthirsty look in Gaara's eye and the creepy as hell grin that the redhead had on his face. "I haven't seen that look in a long time…"

"Wait, so did any of those blows get through?" Kiba asked in confusion.

"There's not a scratch on him," Tenten pointed out.

Kankuro shook his head. "No, they didn't. It's like Gaara is wearing a suit of armor with the shell. Ordinarily the shifting clouds of sand are enough to protect him, but like Temari said, his armor is a second defense."

"Does this guy have any weak spots?" Sakura asked.

Kankuro bit his tongue as he shared a look with Temari. Both had worried looks on their faces. _If only they knew… Gaara's armor is one big weak spot. It can be penetrated and there's also the enormous amount of chakra it takes to keep it in place. This is evidence that Gaara's feeling the pressure, or else he wouldn't have resorted to using it._

Lee undid the bandages from his hand and leaped at Gaara, running around the redhead before kicking him repeatedly in the air. Sasuke's eyes immediately widened, seeing what Lee was trying to do. Guy closed his eyes and held his hands together, praying that the strain on Lee's body wouldn't be too bad. Lee wrapped the bandages around Gaara's body before the two started spinning, hurtling for the ground. "Primary Lotus!" Lee screamed, driving Gaara into the ground before jumping out of the way. Upon impact there was a crater in the ground while Gaara laid there unmoving, with cracks in his sand armor.

"You did it Lee!" Tenten cheered, jumping up and down before wincing in pain.

The Rookie 9 began to cheer until they saw Gaara's shell crack, with nothing inside. Guy's eyes widened. "An empty shell? When did he do that?"

"When you closed your eyes to pray," Kakashi answered. "At that moment Lee closed his eyes too, because of the pain, and that's when he did it."

"It was so fast I nearly missed it myself," Emiko spoke up, her eyes still on the fight.

A dark laughter filled the area as Gaara appeared from underneath a patch of sand on the floor, a crazed look in his eyes. Temari, Kankuro, and Baki—their jounin—all flinched back, causing everyone to look at them in confusion and fear. If Gaara's team was flinching back, then that meant that whatever was about to happen was big.

Gaara made a hand sign as the sand rose up into a massive wave, knocking Lee off of his feet and into a wall as the sand continued to pound on the poor boy who was defenseless to stop the attack. Lee managed to squirm away and started to outrun the attacks, but not by much, occasionally getting hit again and forced to the ground. Lee pushed himself up before looking up at Guy and smiling. _I will make you proud, Guy-sensei._

Lee dodged Gaara's next attacks with speed and ease, throwing everyone off guard. Guy smirked. "The Lotus of the Leaf Village blooms twice."

"Lee told me that…" Sakura trailed off in confusion.

Kakashi tore his attention away from the fight to stare at Guy in shock. "No Guy, you didn't."

"Yes I did."

"So you mean that genin, that _boy_ is able to open the eight inner gates and use the Hidden Lotus?" Kakashi questioned with a mixture of curiosity and distaste in his voice. Guy merely nodded. Kakashi sighed and tried to keep his voice even. "How many of the inner gates is he able to open now?"

"Five Gates."

"Um… could you explain that for the unintellectual people in the group?" Chiaki spoke up raising her hand.

"You mean for Naruto?"

"TEME, SHUT THE HELL UP!"

Sasuke merely smirked.

"What are the Eight Inner Gates?" Sakura asked, getting the two jounin back on topic. Kakashi turned his head back to the fight and lifted his forehead protector to reveal his left Sharingan eye. Those from the Rain village gasped at the sight of the Sharingan, but Kakashi ignored it to stare at Lee and to answer Sakura's question.

"There are gates like valves along the chakra network located at the points in the body where the chakra is most heavily concentrated. Starting at the head they are: The Gate of Opening, The Gate of Rest, The Gate of Life, The Gate of Pain, The Gate of Closing, The Gate of Joy, The Gate of Shock, and the Gate of Death. These are what is called the Eight Inner Gates and their purpose is to limit the flow of chakra to the body. But the Lotus puts tremendous strain on these limiters, eventually forcing the gates to open. This releases the restraints on the chakra, the result being that a person's strength can be increased ten-fold or more."

"Primary Lotus opens only the first gate," Guy took over. "It releases the brains' restraints on the muscles, allowing the technique to work in the first place. At the second gate the strength increases further and at the third gate one enters the Hidden Lotus."

"Wait a second, just using Primary Lotus nearly whipped him out," Yumi pointed out. "What happens if he goes further?"

"If you open all eight gates you can gain power that surpasses even the Hokage," Kakashi answered for the brunette. "The only drawback is… you die."

Silence reigned among the genin.

"And you taught this to your genin?" Emiko asked in shock, looking towards Guy as if he was insane. "What the hell were you thinking? He's just a child!"

Kakashi nodded. "She's right Guy. You shouldn't let your emotions get in the way of—"

"You know nothing about him Kakashi, and you have no right," Guy cut him off, glaring at his rival, but letting Emiko slide for her comment. "He has something to prove to the world and he's willing to die for that."

Lee smiled and closed his eyes raising his chakra. Gaara glared. "I don't know what you're trying to do but this match is over for you."

"You're right; it is over… one way or another!" Lee shouted as his skin started to turn red and his chakra grew tremendously blowing people back slightly from the sheer force of it. "Third Gate, Gate of Life: Open!" Everyone waited expecting him to attack, but watched in shock as his chakra merely continued to grow. "Fourth Gate, Gate of Pain: Open!"

Kakashi's eyes widened. "Incredible, no one can do that through sheer effort alone… the boy is truly a genius."

Lee took off for Gaara, blurring out of view but leaving a mass of rubble in his wake wherever he stepped. He kicked Gaara into the air with such force that the sand armor cracked under Gaara's chin. The blow covered the area in smoke and when everyone looked both genin were gone. "Gaara!" Kankuro called out, looking around for his younger brother.

"Up there!" Shikamaru shouted, pointing to Gaara who was in the air, his armor cracking further.

"There's Gaara, but what happened to Lee?" Ino questioned. Neji activated his Byakugan to keep up with the fight and Sasuke activated his Sharingan, keeping Sakura informed of what was happening, seeing as she kept asking him questions.

Lee appeared above Gaara, kicking him towards the ground, before appearing behind Gaara to kick him again, essentially playing a game of pinball with the sand genin, further damaging the sand armor as the other sand struggled to keep up. Gaara's eyes widened. _My armor can't withstand this pounding! It's crumbling away!_

"His muscles are tearing themselves apart!" Emiko shouted, glaring at Guy.

Kurenai tensed. "End this now, Guy, Lee won't survive at this rate."

Guy ignored both kunoichi.

"Fifth Gate, Gate of Closing: Open!" Lee shouted, reeling his fist back before slamming it into Gaara's face, sending the boy crashing to the ground, creating a new crater in the already decimated battlefield, sending rocks flying into the viewing area. The genin all took cover, Kiba jumping in front of Yumi to protect her from the rocks, Neji jumping in front of Chiaki and using his Sixty-Four palms to hit the rocks away. Tenten was pulled behind her mentor in time, as Sasuke jumped in front of Sakura, with Naruto flanking the girl on his other side. Ino and Shikamaru took shelter behind Choji, who had expanded himself to protect his friends, and Asuma jumped in front of Kurenai and Shino. Emiko stepped behind Kakashi slightly and covered her eyes. Temari had stepped behind Baki while Kankuro tried to protect his sister as best he could.

As soon as the dust cleared, everyone looked back to the field to see Lee lying on the ground in pain and Gaara lying in a pile of sand that had cushioned his fall. Gaara raised his hand shakily towards Lee and sent his sand towards the green clad boy. Lee looked shocked and tired as he tried to escape with no avail. The sand caught up to Lee and Gaara closed his fist, catching Lee's left arm and leg in sand. "Sand Coffin!"

Lee cried out in pain as the sand constricted his limbs, breaking all the bones in each appendage. Lee fell to the ground unconscious as the pain hit him. Sand continued to head towards Lee as Gaara glared maliciously at the boy with the bushy brows. Just before the attack hit Guy jumped in and hit the attack away glaring at Gaara.

Little did Guy know that he just messed up Gaara even more.

"W-Why… why did you save him?" Gaara asked, holding his head as he tried to understand. "He failed… why save him?"

Guy looked back at Lee with a sad expression on his face. "Because he's my student and because he's… precious to me…"

_Precious to him…? _

Gaara's eyes widened before he held his head in his hands in confusion. What did that mean?

"The winner of this match is Sabaku no Gaara due to Guy's interference on Lee's behalf," Hayate spoke up.

Gaara, called back all his sand once again, reconstructing his gourd and placing all his sand back inside of it, before standing up shakily. He was about to walk off the field when he looked over and saw Lee up on his feet again. Everyone turned to see the green clad boy before Guy sobbed at what he saw.

Lee was still unconscious.

"Lee… oh Lee, what have I done?" Guy cried, looking at his student. Lee merely stared blankly ahead. "Look at you… not even conscious and still determined to show the world what you can do!"

Kakashi lowered his forehead protector over his Sharingan. "He's out cold… nothing holding him up but sheer will power."

Guy hugged the boy to his chest. "It's okay Lee, you've already proven it… rest now, it's okay…" Guy cried before Lee's form fell limp in his arms. Guy looked down at his student and cried some more, shocking all the genin and jounin in the arena at the emotion that Guy showed for his student. "Medic! We need a medic!"

Medics came by and quickly rushed Lee to the hospital as the final match between Dosu and Choji commenced. Dosu won within thirty seconds. Hayate then went on to explain to the genin about the final stage of the Chunin exams that would occur in a month, in front of people of affluence from all lands allied with Konoha. Hayate gave out the matches for the final stage. The fights would be Chiaki vs. Dosu, Naruto vs. Neji, Gaara vs. Sasuke, Ayame vs. Kankuro, and Shikamaru vs. Temari, and Yumi vs. Shino. The competitors had a month to train before the final stage and with that the genin were dismissed.


	14. Waiting

A/N: Hey all, sorry for the slow update. I've been in the middle or redo-ing another one of my stories, taking mock AP exams, finding out I need to get my wisdom tooth removed (not looking forward to that) and trying not to fail my last year of high school! Anyways, this chapter will be a little on the short side, and it'll be kinda filler-ish. There will be something revealed about the Rain ninjas in this chapter, and I realize it will make my character Ayame seem very Mary Sue-ish, but I promise you it's not going to be as bad as it seems, trust me on that and don't immediately hate me because of it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto only my OC's.

* * *

Naruto: Alliance of the Ninjas

Chapter 14: Waiting

The silence that enveloped the waiting room of Konoha's hospital was crushing. Immediately after all the genin were dismissed, nearly all the genin and jounin had rushed to the hospital. Asuma had taken Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji back to their houses before joining the others back in the hospital. Upon arriving, the smoker was surprised by what he saw.

Guy was seated in a chair with Kakashi and Kurenai on either side of him, both sending cautious looks over to the crying flamboyant man. Apparently Guy had tried to run into the ER room Lee was in more than once so now he had to be seated by the two jounin. On Kurenai's right was Kiba seated next to an anxious looking Yumi. Both were talking amongst each other quietly, sharing looks of concern before looking at the ER doors, hoping to see a doctor walk out. Shino stood by the wall as quiet as ever as he seemed to survey the area. Chiaki was pacing the floor and biting her thumb nail, sending looks over to her sensei who was seated in between Kakashi and Neji. Emiko had her hands folded in front of her face and was tapping her foot anxiously as she stared across the room, lost in her own thoughts. Neji surveyed the group, much like Shino, but internally he was worried for both Hinata and Lee and he was annoyed by Chiaki's pacing. Tenten was crying silently to herself, praying that Lee would be okay, while Naruto patted the girls' back awkwardly, tossing glares over to Sasuke. Sasuke had taken the seat Naruto had wanted by Sakura, which placed the blonde in the awkward situation of comforting the weapons mistress, while Sasuke watched and made sure Sakura was okay.

A doctor walked into the room. "Excuse me may I speak with—"

Half the room was up and in front of him within a second.

"—all of you?" The doctor finished in confusion. "Regarding the patient Hyuga Hinata first, who is her sensei?"

"That's me," Kurenai stepped up.

"Well, Miss Hyuga is going to make a full recovery. There were only some minor breaks in her bones and some bruises on her ribs. She'll require bed rest for a week or so, but that should be all. She's well on the road to recovery," the doctor explained, causing Kurenai, Kiba, Shino, Neji, and Naruto all to beam. Neji thanked his lucky stars that his fight with his cousin hadn't caused too much damage. He would've never been able to live with himself if he had seriously hurt Hinata. The doctor cleared his throat awkwardly. "As for Rock Lee and Maki Ayame…"

"I'm Lee's sensei, and this is Ayames'," Guy immediately spoke up, pointing to himself and Emiko.

The doctor shifted uncomfortably. "Well, their injuries were far more severe. There were muscle and skin tears all over Lee's body and his chakra networks were damaged. Not to mention the extensive damage to bones and muscles in his left arm and leg. I'm truly sorry to say this but when Lee wakes up, his days as a Shinobi are over."

The announcement shocks everyone into silence, but the doctor wasn't done yet.

"As for Miss Maki, we've been able to identify the type of poison that was used, and we've administered the antidote. It was a very lucky thing we got to her when we did; Ayame's internal organs had started to fail. If she had waited any sooner, she'd be dead right now."

"But how is she now?" Emiko asked, her voice having a nervous edge to it.

"She's not out of the woods yet. We're still working on getting her vital systems to start functioning again and to get them to work properly. She's fallen into a coma and still remains in critical condition. The poison could've caused neural damage that we can't assess until she wakes up."

Yumi shook her head in confusion. "But what does that mean? Will Ayame still be able to fight?"

The doctor gave the brunette girl a look. "You'll be lucky if she's able to walk again, let alone fight. And that's praying she ever wakes up."

Chiaki's mouth spilled open and she looked like she had just been slapped in the face. She looked like she was about to fall down, but Neji—who had been standing behind her—steadied her before she could hit the ground. Yumi crouched on the ground, holding her head in her hands. Emiko covered her face with her hands. "I'm terribly sorry," the doctor muttered.

"Bring me to her," Emiko spoke up after she had calmed herself down.

The doctor shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't allow that. She's currently in ICU with Rock Lee and we cannot have any—"

"Cut the crap, I've heard this before," Emiko growled, taking an intimidating step towards the doctor. A hand being placed on her shoulder stopped her from advancing further on the doctor. She looked up and saw that Guy had placed his hand on her shoulder, looking just as crushed as she did. Emiko maintained her determined expression for a few seconds before sighing and looking at the doctor. "You said you identified the poison. What is it?" The doctor frowned in confusion before Emiko glared again. "What. Is. It."

"O-Oh, yes it was…" the doctor looked at the clipboard in his hand, "Nighlock, a rare poison made from ground up poisonous berries and—"

"Originating where?" Emiko asked cutting him off again.

"A Mountain Village, just past the Land of Ice." Emiko nodded once before looking to her two charges to see that they both nodded as well. "None of the genin will be able to have visitors today, so please come back again tomorrow if you wish to see Hinata. As for Lee and Ayame, we'll send someone to you when their condition has stabilized."

* * *

Sakura was lying on her bed and staring up at the ceiling. She had been in that position ever since they had all been dismissed from the hospital. Everyone had gone their separate ways. Neji had gone home to brief his uncle on Hinata's condition, Tenten went to her house as well, while Guy had gone to train. Kurenai had taken Kiba and Shino home, muttering something about getting food, with Asuma quickly agreeing. Yumi and Chiaki said they would be going back to the Competitors Housing while Emiko said she had business to attend to. Kakashi disappeared without much warning to his teammates and Naruto had tried to see Hinata despite the doctors' orders. Eventually he had given up and gone to Ichiraku's for some ramen. Naruto had invited both Sasuke and Sakura, but both had declined, Sakura not really feeling up for ramen, and Sasuke not giving an explanation.

It was surreal that everything was happening the way it was. It had only been two hours ago that all of the genin had been pumped and excited for the preliminaries, but now three of her friends were hospitalized. Thankfully Hinata would be okay, but Lee and Ayame… what would happen to them? Lee would be devastated when he woke up and was told he could no longer be a Shinobi. And Ayame might not even wake up at all.

Sakura rolled over on her stomach and hid her head underneath her pillow, hoping to wake up and for it all to be a dream.

A knock on her door caused her to groan and hide her face farther under her pillow. She didn't want to deal with another round of her parents talking about how well she did and not to be down because of not making it to the finals, because she knew that would put her in a worse mood. The knocking persisted. "I don't want to talk Mom! I'm not really in the mood for it!" Again a knock. "Mom seriously, I don't—" Sakura shot up from her bed.

Her mom and dad had left for the market ten minutes ago.

It was only then that Sakura realized that the knocking hadn't been coming from the door, but from the window. She whirled around and saw a slightly annoyed looking Sasuke standing at her window, knocking and giving her an 'about time' look. Upon seeing the boy Sakura's heart began to pound wildly, but she ignored it as she made her way over to the window and opened it for the Uchiha.

"Finally, I thought you were going to ignore me," Sasuke muttered as he jumped into her room and walked over to sit on her bed.

Sakura blushed. Sasuke was in her room.

Sasuke was in her room, sitting on her bed and her parents weren't home.

"W-What are you doing here?" Sakura asked as soon as she managed to find her voice, still rooted to her spot by the window.

Sasuke looked at her as if the answer was obvious. "Sitting?"

"No! Not that!" Sakura said shaking her head. "I mean _why_ you are here."

"I came to check up on you," Sasuke said easily, scanning her room as he spoke. "You were pretty badly hurt in the forest, even though the doctors healed you I wanted to make sure that nothing hurts. And I know you're not overly thrilled at the fact that Hinata, Ayame, and Lee are in the hospital."

Sakura frowned and leaned against her window nodding. "My injuries are fine, I don't even feel them it's just... I'm worried for them. I'm relieved that Hinata's going to be okay, but Lee and Ayame…"

"Lee's going to be alright," Sasuke commented as soon as Sakura trailed off. "Did you see his fight? He's too stubborn to give up being a ninja. And I'm sure Guy will be the same way. And as for Ayame, I wouldn't worry too much about her."

"Why is that?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you here the Rain ninja before they left the hospital? The doctor told them that they should pull Ayame out of the finals because of the severity of her injuries. Emiko just laughed in the doctors' face and said that the day she pulled Ayame out of the finals was the day hell froze over." Sakura blinked in surprise, prompting Sasuke to continue. "The Rain ninja aren't stupid. If they're not taking Ayame out of the rotation, then there has to be a reason. And I can see why."

Sakura frowned before looking at Sasuke in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"

"Remember what Yumi said during Ayame's fight?" Sasuke asked his pink-haired teammate. At her confused expression he nodded. "Yumi said that Ayame got hit by the poisoned kunai in the forest, and we know that the Rain ninja got out of the forest a full day before we did. Still, Ayame managed to last two days and fight against that Grass ninja before she finally came down."

Sakura's eyes widened slightly at that bit of information before smiling as she realized that Sasuke was trying to cheer her up. Her smile widened. "Thanks Sasuke… that really helped."

"No problem," Sasuke said with a shrug and a small smile. He got up from the bed and walked over to where Sakura stood by the window. "So, did you get anything to eat since the exams?"

Sakura's heart started to beat faster as Sasuke stared at her. Was he trying to ask her out? Could this really be happening? "N-No, I haven't…"

"Do you want to go get—"

"Sakura dear, we're home!"

Sakura paled, as Sasuke turned in confusion to her door. Panicking, Sakura grabbed Sasuke and pushed him towards her closet, opening it and shoving him in as he questioned and complained the entire way in. Sasuke whirled around and looked at Sakura in confusion. "What's going—"

"Keep quiet, I'll get you out later!"

Sasuke had spent two hours in the closet—messing around with some of Sakura's shoes, doodling on her wall, and playing around with a random stuffed bear he found in the corner of the closet—before he got let out. Sakura promptly pushed him out of the window, hissing something about her mother thinking she was crazy for talking to herself and that she would promise to eat food later. Sasuke was very confused by what was happening but went with it, hopping out the window and heading back towards his apartment. He smirked as his thoughts were filled with his pink-haired teammate.

* * *

Emiko sat at the top of the tree near the hospital and waited, looking off into the sky. She had been in that very same position for the entire day and it was now midnight. She hadn't moved a single muscle and one would have thought her to be a statue if it weren't for her blinking and the slight rise and fall of her chest. She had so much on her mind and she needed to sort through all her thoughts before heading back to talk to Chiaki and Yumi. They would most definitely be looking to her for guidance and some idea of what to do and she couldn't just show up and tell them she's just as worried and concerned as they were.

Emiko tightened her hands into fists and banged it onto the trunk of the tree. _Damn it…why'd you have to get hit Ayame? You know you're the one who has to be protected at all times. And for Chiaki and Yumi not to sense those ninja… damn it, this wasn't supposed to happen. Now Ayame's in a freaking coma and she's vulnerable. With her vulnerable it's possible that… no. That would be catastrophic. Although it would be even worse if __**they**__ found out what happened to Ayame. Shit, all of Konoha would be in jeopardy. Damn it, Ayame better wake up soon or our whole plan is going to fall through…_

Emiko's ears perked up slightly and she covertly moved her hand slowly to her kunai pouch. She waited patiently, grabbing the hilt of her weapon with slow movements. Within a split second she had grabbed her kunai and was up on her feet, holding her weapon to the throat of the person who snuck up on her. Emiko was surprised when she felt a kunai at the base of her neck as well. She sighed in relief when she saw who her 'assailant' was and pulled her kunai back.

"Damn it Kakashi, I almost killed you."

Kakashi lowered his weapon and smiled behind his mask. "I could tell you the same thing."

"Yeah, but I wasn't going around sneaking up on people," Emiko pointed out putting away her weapon. "So what do you want?"

"I'm going to get right to the chase," Kakashi said, moving so he was standing on a different branch than the raven haired woman. "You're not who you claim to be, and I want to know who you are."

Emiko stiffened. "Pardon?"

Kakashi twirled his kunai on his finger carelessly, his silver hair shining in the pale moonlight. "Your actions have been suspicious. I've seen the stat cards on your girls and they are much more experienced than genin their age should be. They are more powerful too. There is also the fact that you don't treat Ayame as merely a subordinate. You, Yumi and Chiaki seem to be very concerned about her wellbeing… more so than should be normal. And while we're on the topic of your redhead, she's abnormal."

"No arguments there."

Kakashi smiled in amusement before continuing in a serious tone. "Abnormal as in she should be dead by now." Emiko raised an eyebrow. "No matter how fast the medical team administered an antidote she should've already been dead."

Emiko shook her head. "Ayame's got a high immune system and dealt with a poison on one of our last missions, so she must've built up a tolerance—"

"Do you know what Nighlock is Emiko?" Kakashi questioned. Emiko bit the inside of her cheek and remained silent. "Nighlock: a rare and dangerous berry that is a found in a mountain village beyond the Land of Ice. This berry is known for its poisonous properties and has been put into use by the villages' Shinobi. Nighlock is especially dangerous as it is a berry that targets all of the body systems, starting first with the digestive systems, then moving on into the respiratory systems, then attacking individual internal organs. Anyone who is administered this poison must receive the antidote within twelve hours after exposure or else run the risk of death. No one can survive more than a day if not administered an antidote. Yet your girl survived two days."

"Your point?" Emiko asked stubbornly.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "I don't really have a point, just questions. So who are you really?"

Emiko glared off into the woods. _Damn it, he's more receptive than I thought… shit what the hell do I tell him? Ugh, I guess there's no choice…_

"I'm Princess Ayame's royal body guard."

"…what?"

Emiko rolled her eyes and turned her glance back to the jounin. "I'm a body guard. I guard Ayame because she's a princess. Yumi and Chiaki are a part of the genin we use as the guards and they're with me because I'm training them."

Kakashi blinked. "Well… that was not expected. She's a princess?"

"Yes, she's a princess from a small kingdom near the Hidden Rain Village. We work closely with them which is why we say we're from there. Yumi and Chiaki were originally from the Rain Village while Ayame was born in the kingdom."

"If she's a princess, why are you here?" Kakashi challenged. "Why is she trying to graduate to Chunin?"

Emiko sighed and sat down on the tree branch, prompting the silver-haired man to do the same. "Ayame doesn't like feeling like she's some child to be protected. Her father, the King, allowed her to enter a ninja academy to satisfy his daughter. He didn't expect her to excel, but even with her progress he refused her request to attend the Chunin Exams when I mentioned I'd be taking Yumi and Chiaki. Our head guard, who's always been very receptive to Ayame's wants, gave us a cover and allowed us to compete. Ayame just wants to be normal."

Kakashi nodded. "Okay, then how did she not die from Nighlock?"

"We have encountered that poison before. As the princess, Ayame is subject to assassination attempts and there was one instance where those very same Shinobi from that mountain village attacked and Nighlock was used. She must've built a small immunity to it that allowed her to continue on for so long," Emiko answered.

Kakashi thought about all that she had said. _It would explain their protectiveness over Ayame, and it explains their strengths…_ Kakashi smiled at Emiko, putting his kunai away. "Alright, one more question."

"Shoot."

"Wanna come back to my apartment?"


	15. Hospital Visits

A/N: Hey guys! I know I haven't gotten a chapter out in a while, but that's because I haven't had much time to get out chapters! Anyway, the next chapter after this one will be out as soon as I get more prewritten chapters done. And since spring break is in two weeks, I should hopefully be able to get more done. Anyway, I really hope you guys like last chapter and you like this chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, only my OC's.

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Naruto: Alliance of the Ninja

Chapter 15: Hospital Visits

The three weeks that followed were long and busy. Hinata had gotten out of the hospital and had immediately been whisked off to Ichiraku's with Naruto who wanted to buy her a bowl of ramen to celebrate her release from the hospital. Neji had promptly taken Hinata back to the Hyuga compound after finding out that Naruto had taken her to eat muttering about how the blonde idiot wouldn't be allowed to go on a date with his cousin. Tenten had begun training with Neji while Shino had Kiba and Hinata help him prepare. Kakashi had taken Sasuke to train, while Naruto trained with Jiraya, one of the three Legendary Sanin who had been passing through. Yumi and Chiaki had begun training under Emiko's guidance, while making visits out to their comatose teammate in the hospital and Shikamaru had started training with Choji and Asuma. Lee had woken up during the end of the second week and had taken the news that he would never be a Shinobi again differently than how others had thought.

Lee had merely smiled at all the doctors and Guy and said 'well I have my new goal now! To strive to prove you all wrong!'

To say Guy was proud was an understatement.

Towards the beginning of the third week Dosu had been killed by Gaara, because the Sound Ninja had tried to kill the redhead in order to face Sasuke. Chiaki had been largely displeased screaming 'that's not fucking fair! I wanted to kick his ass in that rematch! Why do my opponents have to die?!' at the top of her lungs. Dosu however wasn't the only casualty during the weeks. Hayate, the proctor of the preliminaries was found dead by the ANBU, putting Konoha on high alert. With only six days to the finals, everyone was on edge.

Sakura hadn't seen her teammates in weeks and had only recently found out that Naruto had been admitted to the hospital due to exhaustion. Sakura shook her head as she thought about her hyperactive teammate and continued on her way to the Yamanaka flower shop. Upon entering the shop she saw her blonde friend. Ino and Sakura had moved past their issues that they had during childhood and had actually begun to get along and start acting like real friends again after their fight. Ino looked up from the magazine she had been reading and smiled at the pink-haired kunoichi. "Hey there Billboard-Brow."

"Hey Ino-Pig," Sakura responded easily, walking over to the counter. "Can I get three lilies?"

"Three?" Ino asked in confusion as she moved around the counter to get the flowers Sakura requested. "You normally only get two lilies for Lee and Ayame; who else are you buying one for?"

"Naruto. Somehow he managed to work himself to exhaustion so Jiraya brought him to the hospital. I'm going to see how he's doing," Sakura answered.

Ino nodded. "I heard about that. Shikamaru's looking after him in the hospital, because Choji managed to get indigestion. No surprise there. Do you know if Lee's feeling any better?"

Sakura smiled. "He's still doing one-handed and one-legged pushups despite what the nurses and doctors tell him. He's been training any time they turn their back on him."

"Yeah, that sounds like Lee. I wouldn't be surprise if he does somehow manage to still be a Shinobi," Ino spoke up. "He's too stubborn to give up. And what about Ayame? Has she woken up yet?"

"No not yet," Sakura answered, with a small frown on her face. "And Emiko still refuses to take Ayame out of the finals rotation."

"But there is only six days."

"Exactly," Sakura said, shrugging. "I hope she wakes up soon though. It's scary to think she's been out for three weeks. I'm going to get going."

"Alright, tell Lee I said hi and tell Shikamaru that Asuma-sensei says he needs to get back to training," Ino spoke up.

"Alright, I will."

* * *

"HOW COME YOU DIDN'T WAKE ME UP? THE FINALS ARE IN SIX DAYS AND I HAVE TO BE PREPARING! THIS ISN'T A TIME FOR ME TO BE LYING DOWN AND SLEEPING! WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES?! I HAVE TO GET READY! WHERE'S PERVY SAGE?!"

Shikamaru sighed and waited for the blonde to stop screaming. Naruto had just woke up from his three day mini coma and immediately started screaming about how he needed to be preparing and training and screaming at Shikamaru for not waking him up as if it were all his fault. The lazy genin merely rolled his eyes and waited for Naruto to get tired of screaming. He didn't have to wait long.

"Shikamaru, I'm hungry."

Shikamaru laughed. "Is that all? Here look," Shikamaru said pulling out a fruit basket from underneath the bed. "I went to all the trouble to get this for Choji but then the doctors said I couldn't give it to him. He's got indigestion from eating one short rib too many, but we can eat it."

Naruto laughed. "That sounds like Choji. Hey, let's eat this in front of him! It'll drive him crazy!"

"That's mean… I like it."

A knock on the door got the attention of the two boys. They both turned to see Sakura walking in with three flowers. Naruto immediately beamed. "Sakura!"

Sakura looked at her teammate and smiled, walking over to the bed. "Hey Naruto, it's nice to see you're awake. Hey Shikamaru."

"Sakura," Shikamaru said with a smile, nodding in her direction.

"Was Naruto any trouble?" Sakura asked, arranging one of the flowers on Naruto's bedside table, causing the blonde boy to beam at the fact that his teammate had come to visit him _and _had brought him a flower.

"Not until he woke up."

"Hey!"

Sakura just laughed. "I figured. So what are you guys doing?"

"We're going to go torment Choji by eating this food in front of him," Naruto said with an evil grin. Sakura frowned.

"That's not very nice. If he expands and tries to run you over, I won't feel any sympathy," Sakura warned, causing Naruto to pout. "Anyway, I'll come back later. I'm going to go put these two flowers in Lee and Ayame's room."

"Alright, tell Lee I said hi if he's awake," Naruto said excitedly.

Sakura nodded before heading for the door. "Oh and Shikamaru, Asuma-sensei says you need to get back to training."

"Aw, what a drag."

Sakura laughed and walked out. Shikamaru and Naruto then shared an evil look. "We still gonna harass Choji?"

"Hell yeah."

* * *

"Man it's so quiet…" Sakura muttered as she finished arranging the flower by Lee's bed and by Ayame's. Lee was asleep in his bed—probably from getting sedated by one of the nurses again—and Ayame was still in a coma. The room was eerily silent as was the hospital seeing as the staff in that wing was out to lunch. Sakura looked at her two friends and smiled sadly. Lee still had a bandage on his forehead and cheek while Ayame was showing no signs of her getting up soon.

Sighing, Sakura got up and started to head out of the room and back towards Naruto's room, hoping to see her blonde friend again before heading home. She didn't notice the presence of the redhead genin behind her as she disappeared down the hallway.

The door to Lee and Ayame's room slid open once again as Gaara stepped through, glaring at Lee's unconscious body.

Gaara couldn't understand why Guy had saved Lee. He couldn't understand what it meant to have someone precious to him. He didn't understand what made Lee special to have someone protect him and care for him like that. He didn't understand and he didn't like that he didn't understand. Gaara held his head in pain as his thoughts kept getting louder and louder and his demonic side started to emerge slowly. The cork on his gourd fell out and he controlled his sand so that it was snaking its way over Lee, intent on killing the boy. Just before he could close his hand a small noise caught his attention; an otherwise insignificant noise.

A small intake of breath.

Gaara turned his head slightly to the bed that Ayame was asleep in. Her face, which had been completely still, was starting to move, her eyes tightening slightly and her lips moving, muttering unintelligible things. Gaara's eyes widened slightly and he moved towards her bed, his sand still over Lee's body. Gaara had heard from Temari that Ayame had been in a coma for the last three weeks and wasn't expected to wake up in time for the finals. They weren't even sure if she was going to ever wake up. And here she was, murmuring and clenching her eyes tighter and shifting under the blanket.

Gaara's heart started to hurt again and he shook his head in confusion as to what was happening. He slowly moved closer to the girl and reached out a hand; for what he didn't know, but his body seemed to move to its own accord. His hand moved closer to hers and was just a few inches away from hers before his body froze. "I-I can't move my body…" Gaara managed to say.

Gaara found himself on the receiving end of a punch to the jaw only to hear someone else cry out in pain. Turning he saw the hyperactive blonde from the preliminaries and the lazy boy who had used his shadow in his match. Shikamaru glared at Naruto and turned to look at the blonde, causing Gaara to do the same. "Watch what you're doing. I'm using my Shadow Possession Jutsu so when you pound on him I get hit too."

"Sorry about that," Naruto apologized. He then turned to Gaara and glared. "What the hell are you doing in here? What were you trying to pull? Trying to kill Lee and Ayame?"

"Not her. I was going to kill him," Gaara answered easily.

Naruto and Shikamaru shared a shocked look. "You already beat him once in the competition, isn't that enough? Do you have a personal vendetta against him or something? And what were you going to Ayame then if you weren't going to kill her?"

"I have nothing against him. It's not that complicated, I simply want to kill him, that's all."

Naruto glared. "You know what you're sick in the head!"

"You think we're going to stand by and let you get what you want you sick, selfish, psycho?" Shikamaru hissed. On the inside though, he was panicking. Gaara gave him the creeps and he knew that he and Naruto weren't a match for him if he decided to fight them. There was also the fact that Lee and Ayame were still in the room and that they would have to protect them and worry about fighting.

"If you don't stay out of my way then I'll have to kill you two as well."

"Oh yeah, I'd like to see you try it!" Naruto shouted.

Shikamaru glared at Naruto and told him to shut up. _Our best shot is to bluff our way out of this…_ "Yeah, yeah we saw your last match. We know you're tough. But Naruto and I have some tricks up our sleeves, we were holding back during the competition. There are things you haven't even seen yet. On top of that, it's two against one. Don't be a fool. Take my advice and leave quietly."

"I'll say it again. If you don't stay out of my way then I'll kill you both," Gaara spoke not even fazed in the slightest.

"And _I'll_ say it again. I'd like to see you try it!" Naruto shouted.

Shikamaru gave Naruto a shocked look. "Shut up, will you? We don't want to go there. This guy fights like he's mad, like he's a demon."

"Let him fight like a demon, I've got the real thing inside of me," Naruto pointed out getting a serious look on his face as he referred to the Nine-Tailed Fox sealed inside of his body.

Gaara closed his eyes. "A demon huh? My demon is as real as yours is. From my birth my upbringing was now what most people would consider a happy one. To insure that I became the strongest of Shinobi my father cast his Ninjutsu on me, infusing my unborn self with a sand spirit. I destroyed the life of a woman who gave birth to me. I was born a monster." Naruto and Shikamaru's eyes widened. A rustling over by Ayame caught Shikamaru's attention briefly and he noticed that Ayame was starting to move around.

_If she wakes up now, Gaara might try and kill her too. Damn it, she picks __**now**__ of all times to start to wake up?_ Shikamaru thought to himself.

Gaara didn't notice Shikamaru's worry and continued. "Its name is Shukaku and it's a living incarnation of an old monk who lived in the Sand village sealed up in a jar of tea."

"Yeah, a demonic jutsu, but to use it on a baby before it's even born, that's just plain creepy," Shikamaru blurted out, hoping that Gaara couldn't notice the stirring redhead behind him.

Naruto looked on in shock at Gaara. _Could it be true… can he have one inside of him too? _

"Your dad sounds like a swell guy. I'm sure he loved you very much," Shikamaru said sarcastically.

Gaara's eyes narrowed slightly. "'Love'? Don't measure me by your standards. Love… family… the only emotional ties I have to my family are the ones I'd like to wrap around their necks. They're only ties of hate. Being brought into the world by the death of my mother I was raised to be the salvation of the village. I was the Kazekage child. My father taught me the inner most secrets of Shinobi. He pampered and protected me and left me to myself. For a time I thought that was love. That was when everything started."

"When what started?" Shikamaru asked.

Gaara was silent for a moment.

"What was it? Are you going to tell us or not?" Naruto asked.

"In the six years since I became six years old my father has tried to destroy me more times than I can count," Gaara said with a creepy grin and a malicious look in his eyes.

Naruto and Shikamaru flinched. "You just finished saying that your father pampered and protected you so which is it?" Shikamaru asked.

"Those who get to be too strong are apt to become feared. The jutsu that gave me birth had unbalanced something in my mind. Even the fools in my village finally realized I had… emotional problems. My father, the Kazekage, created me as his ultimate weapon, but I turned out to be a threat to the very village I was meant to save. By the time I was six I became a figure of terror to the villagers. To them I was a relic of the past that they wished would disappear. So you see I had failed the one purpose for which I was given life. What then was left for me in this existence? Why go on living? For a long time I couldn't find an answer to that. But in order to live you _need_ a purpose. To exist for no reason is the same as being dead."

"What is this guy talking about?" Shikamaru asked in confusion, positive that Gaara not only had emotional but psychological problems as well. Naruto, on the other hand, had his eyes widened in shock.

_I know exactly what he means… exactly… h-he-s the same as me!_

"In time the answer came to me. To put it simply, my reason for living is in the killing of others. For years I lived in fear of those who attempted to murder me, but now I am at peace. I've killed many would-be assassins and it was while I was doing it that the truth became clear to me. I live solely for myself, I love only myself. As it was the death of my mother that gave me life it is the death of others that sustains that life that makes me almost happy to be alive. And there is no end to it as long as there are people to kill in this great wide crowded world, I will never disappear."

Naruto stood frozen to his spot. _I was alone too… I didn't know what I was here for. Why I was alive, until Iruka-sensei came along. He saw what was in me and he gave me a purpose, a reason for living! But this guy had no one. He had to find the answer on his own and __**this**__ is what he came up with. To kill in order to live. Could I have ended up like that if… we're so different… but we're so close to being the same! N-No… I don't think I can beat this guy…_ Naruto thought to himself. He began shaking and took a step back.

Shikamaru saw that and winced. _Crap… better think of something…_ "If your existence is to base on killing in order to living… why did you say you would only kill Lee; why not Ayame too?"

Gaara's eyes widened before narrowing as he turned to look at the redhead on the bed, an odd expression on his face. Ayame was moving about, tossing and turning on the bed. "She hurts me." Shikamaru and Naruto both looked shocked and confused by that answer. Gaara still had his eyes on Ayame as he continued speaking. "She hurts me and I'm interested in knowing how and why. She hurts me, yet she doesn't fear me. She acknowledges my existence and doesn't cower in fear. I'm unaware if she knows about the demon that lives inside me, but she knows of my strength and she treats me no differently than her teammates. She interests me, hurts me, and confuses me, but she does not look down or hate me. For that reason I will allow her to be the only one to live."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth Gaara's sand rushed up and began to advance on the two genin. Naruto was unresponsive as Shikamaru shouted for him to wake up. "Damn it Naruto wake up! NARUTO!"

"Alright that's enough!"

The three boys all turned to see Guy standing there glaring at Gaara. "Save it for the finals. You're just wasting it today, is that what you want?" Gaara held his head in pain as his memories surged back to him. He tried to force the memories away and summoned his sand back into his gourd. Gaara glared at Guy before walking towards the door. He paused and turned to look at everyone.

"All the same I will kill you… I'll kill you all. Just you wait."

A silence enveloped the room as Gaara exited. Naruto still stood rooted to his spot, his eyes glued to the door, praying that Gaara wouldn't walk back in. Shikamaru looked at the blonde and frowned in confusion. _What's up with Naruto? Why'd he freeze up like that?_

"Ugh… my head…"

The three men turned their heads in shock to look at the redhead girl sitting up in her bed, holding onto her forehead with her hand. She blinked and looked up at the three pairs of eyes staring at her. "Uh… what are you guys doing in my room?"

"Finally awake, I see," Shikamaru commented with a smile.

Ayame frowned in confusion and nodded. "Yes… still didn't answer my—wait, where am I?"

"The hospital," Naruto answered, gaining his voice finally. "You've been out for three weeks."

"EH?! THREE WEEKS?! WHAT DAY IS IT?! WHEN'S THE FINALS?! HOW COME NO ONE WOKE ME UP?"

Shikamaru sighed. "Déjà vu."

Guy cleared his throat. "Ayame… how are you feeling?"

"Like I slept for a year," Ayame replied honestly after calming down. She then pouted. "I can't believe I actually slept for three weeks. Man, I've got to cram training into the last seven days before the finals!"

"Six actually," Shikamaru pointed out.

"Six? Oh man, I need to train! Where are my training clothes?" Ayame asked, starting to get out of bed.

"Whoa, whoa wait, you can't get out of bed. The doctors have got to check you to make sure you're okay first. And you're probably not going to be able to fight in the finals," Guy spoke up.

Ayame frowned and looked at Guy. "And why is that?"

"You were poisoned. You shouldn't be able to move around too much."

"Oh is that all?" Ayame asked in relief. "I thought they had disqualified me or something. As for moving around and fighting, I can do that no problem, watch!" Ayame proceeded to get out of bed and started walking around the room on her hands. "See I'm—" Ayame winced and pain and started to topple over but Naruto quickly ran over and prevented her from falling and lowering her so she was sitting on the floor. "Okay, so I need a little bit of rest, but I'll be good within six days!"

Guy frowned a bit before nodding. "The three of you wait here. I'll get a doctor and Emiko so they can see what it is you can do." With that Guy left, leaving Shikamaru and Naruto with Ayame.

Ayame stood up and started to head to her bed before she frowned and spotted Lee. "What happened to him? He was fine during the preliminaries," she said as she crawled back into bed and propped up her pillow to rest her back against.

"Gaara happened," Shikamaru answered. "Lee and Gaara had the match right after yours and Gaara did a number on him. He was about to kill him when Guy stepped in. He was just here too trying to kill Lee again."

Ayame froze. "Gaara was here?"

"Yeah, he tried to kill Lee. The guy is psycho. He started going on about how his purpose in life was to kill and that he has a demon named Shukaku sealed inside him. He told us about his childhood and how everyone from his village fears him because of the demon inside of him. He will kill anyone in an instant. He's not one to be messed with."

Ayame remained silent for a moment. Before she smiled sadly and looked down at her hands in her lap. "He's lost."

"What do you mean?" Shikamaru asked, going to sit in the chair beside her bed. Naruto perched himself on the edge of her bed and looked at Ayame in confusion, curious as to her answer too.

Ayame looked at them and continued to give them a sad smile. "He's lost. He doesn't know why he's alive. And he said he came up with killing as his purpose… he's not bad; he just doesn't know better… it's not his fault. It's not his fault he has a demon living in him."

Shikamaru looked at the girl in confusion while Naruto's eyes widened in shock. _How can she understand that? She had to be awake. How much was she conscious for?_

"AYAME!"

Ayame looked up in confusion before a large smile spread across her face as Chiaki and Yumi bolted through the door, nearly tackling the redhead out of bed with their hugs. Emiko ran in just after them with Guy, and two doctors behind her. Emiko beamed upon seeing the redhead awake and walked over to push Chiaki and Yumi out of the way to hug her. "Nice to see you awake, princess."

"Thanks, but why didn't you guys wake me up? I missed so many training days!" Ayame complained with a pout.

"Training?" One of the doctors asked. "Miss, you should be thankful that you're alive!"

"Okay… thanks!" Ayame thanked with a smile. She then looked to Emiko. "So when can I start training?"

"Whenever you want to start," Emiko responded with a smile.

Chiaki grinned. "Hell yeah! Now we can get the whole Rain ninja squad together to train!"

"We're trying to work on some new techniques," Yumi informed Ayame who grinned in excitement.

One of the doctors shook his head. "I'd highly recommend that you not train at all for the next few days and withdraw from the—"

"No one's asking you," Chiaki hissed at the doctor.

Emiko shot Chiaki a look before turning to the doctor. "I appreciate you healing her but we'll take care of her from here."

"YES! THIS IS A VERY YOUTHFUL DISPLAY OF THE POWER OF YOUTH!" Guy called out.

"…okay…"

"Let's go girls; we rest today and train tomorrow."

"Yes ma'am!"

* * *

"It's good to have you back around here, princess," Chiaki said happily as she changed into her pajamas.

The Rain ninja were back in their apartments for competitors getting ready to go to sleep. As soon as they had left the hospital the Rain ninja went to go get food for the starving redhead before heading back to their apartments to sleep. Chiaki was changing for bed while Yumi put Ayame's hair into pig tails, both girls already having changed. Emiko was somewhere out of the house, saying she had something she needed to do. Ayame smiled at her blonde haired friend as Yumi finished up her hair.

"Thanks, I can't believe I was out for so long," Ayame said with a pout. "Passing out in the middle of the field must've been totally embarrassing."

"Totally scary is more like it. Do you know how worried we were?" Yumi asked.

"We were flipping the fuck out!" Chiaki answered before Ayame could.

Ayame smiled. "Sorry about that. So where's Emiko-sensei anyway?"

"Probably screwing the Copy Cat ninja."

Yumi glared at the blonde. "Chiaki, Emiko-sensei went to go do something!"

"More like some_one_."

"Um, what?" Ayame asked.

Chiaki grinned. "Emiko-sensei has been hanging out with Sakura's sensei after hours for the past few weeks for some _extracurricular_ activities."

Ayame's face flared red before covering her eyes. "Aw man! I got a mental image!"

"…damn it Ayame!"

"That's going to be forever burned into my mind," Yumi commented shaking her head.

Chiaki shook her head and headed towards the kitchen in their apartment. "I'm going to get some ice cream to try and freeze my brain to erase that mental image."

"Make that two," Yumi said getting up and heading for the kitchen. Ayame got up from her bed and walked over to the balcony as opposed to heading towards the kitchen. She walked towards the ledge and looked outside at the moon and smiled, resting her arms on the sill, relishing the cool air. She closed her eyes and stood there for a few moments, before something small hit her face. She frowned and opened her eyes, seeing a pile of sand by her elbow. Cocking her head to the side in confusion she looked up to see a familiar redhead at the balcony above her looking out at the night sky.

Ayame smiled and looked forward at the moon again. "Thank you for catching me," Ayame said loud enough for Gaara to hear. "I was told that you used your sand to break my fall during the preliminaries. Thank you."

There was a pause. "…You're welcome…"

"It's a nice night out tonight. I'm excited for the finals, what about you?" No answer. "I'm sure you're not worried though, you're really strong. But I want you to know that I hope you do well! Though I hope I do well too… I know I'm going to fight your brother in the first round. I'm going to try to beat him, you know? I really hope you don't mind… I won't try and hurt him too bad! I just… I don't want you to be mad at me because of it…"

"…I won't."

"That's a relief," Ayame smiled. She soon became silent. The two of them remained that way for a few minutes, just staring at the sky, enjoying the weather and eachother's company. Ayame heard noises coming from the kitchen in the apartment and she sighed a bit. "I have to go inside now. I know Chiaki and Yumi are going to be finishing their ice cream soon and they'll come to check up on me. Gaara… will you be here tomorrow?" No response. "Well… I will, if you want to talk. You're not alone Gaara, so please don't feel like you are. I'll be there if you ever need me. Goodnight, Gaara... sweet dreams," Ayame said before she walked off the balcony and back into her room, leaving Gaara standing alone.

Gaara's heart began to hurt again.

_"You're not alone Gaara..."_


	16. Finals

Naruto: Alliance of the Ninjas

Chapter 16: Finals

It was finally the day of the finals. All of the genin were getting ready as the flood of nobles and kages from all over the lands were arriving and filing into the stadium. Residents of Konoha were waiting in lines to get into the arena, talking excitedly amongst themselves, thrilled to see the matches. The genin that had showed up early were waiting in the holding room, while their jounin waited in the stands with the other spectators. The genin were to stay in that room until the first fight was to begin; then they were to be transferred to a private viewing room for all the competing genin.

"Ah, I can't wait to get this started!" Ayame said, jumping up and down in her seat.

Yumi looked up from packing her weapons pouch and smiled at the happy redhead. "Calm down Ayame, you'll get your turn."

"Yeah but _I_ have to wait for the second round!" Chiaki complained, leaning against the wall. "Damn people killing my opponent. That was supposed to be _my_ job."

"Could you possible keep it down? Some of us are trying to prepare," Neji pointed out as he meditated in a corner of the room. Shikamaru nodded his agreement from where he was sprawled out on the couch.

"Yeah and some of us are trying to sleep."

Temari, who had been sitting in a chair across from the lazy genius, snorted. "You'd better be aware during our fight. I don't want it to be a two second match." Shikamaru ignored her comment.

Kankuro snorted. "I'm sure your match will last longer than mine," he said to his sister, jerking his thumb to indicate Ayame who was sitting on a table swinging her legs back and forth.

"That's something we can agree on," Ayame retorted. Chiaki snorted in laughter while Yumi shook her head at Ayame's comment. Kankuro glared. Ayame smiled at her opponent before frowning. "Where are Gaara, Sasuke and Naruto?"

"Gaara's wandering around somewhere, though I don't know what business it is of yours," Temari spoke up.

"I haven't seen Naruto," Shikamaru answered Ayame's second part of the question, far kinder than Temari had. "Idiot probably overslept. I'm not sure where Sasuke is, but he should be here soon."

"The two of them better, the matches start in five minutes, and Naruto's is first up," Yumi pointed out.

"I'M HERE!"

Everyone turned to see Naruto burst into the room, nearly smacking Shino in the face with the door. He was breathing heavily and panting. "S-Sorry… late… slept… Hinata."

Neji jumped to his feet and glared maliciously at Naruto. The evil aura surrounding the Hyuga was practically tangible as he stalked slowly over towards the hyperactive blonde by the door. "You did _what_ with my cousin?"

Naruto's eyes widened in fear and Neji took that as a confirmation. He lunged for the boy only to be restrained by Chiaki who had been right behind him and Shikamaru had just happened to sit up in time to grab Neji. Ayame jumped in front of the cowering Uzumaki, stretching her arms out in front of him protectively. "Easy Hyuga, calm the hell down! Killing him won't help anything! And he probably didn't even do it!" Chiaki shouted in Neji's ear.

"That came out COMPLETELY wrong!" Naruto squeaked from over Ayame's shoulder as he continued to use the girl as a hiding place. "I meant to say that I was sorry for being late because I overslept and stopped to talk to Hinata to make sure she was okay and that she wouldn't be mad at me for fighting you!"

"Alright is everyone ready to— what's going on here?"

All of the genin turned to look at Genma walk through the door and look at all of them like they were crazy. He raised an eyebrow, looking as if he expected some sort of explanation before he sighed and shook his head. "You know what I don't really want to know. Look it's time for you kids to get to the viewing area. Where are the other two?" The genin shrugged. "Alright, just follow me to the viewing area and then Neji and Naruto follow me to the field. Your match is first."

* * *

"Alright I can't wait to see these matches! This is going to be great! Let's go Shikamaru!"

Sakura sighed and shook her head despite the smile that was on her face. She was seated in one of the upper decks next to Hinata, Ino and Choji. Ino had broken out the pompoms and was already cheering for Shikamaru before the matches even began. Choji was too busy stuffing his face to pay much attention and Hinata was too nice to say anything, but Sakura was getting the full force of Ino's high-pitched screaming. "Ino, Shikamaru doesn't even fight yet. "

"I'm getting ready to give him support!"

Sakura shook her head. "You're not gonna stop cheering are you?"

"Nope!" Ino said cheerfully.

"The first match is starting. It's Naruto vs. Neji," Choji spoke up, catching the attention of the three girls.

"N-Naruto vs. Neji… w-who do I r-root for?" Hinata questioned.

Sakura smiled. "Root for them both. Don't worry, they'll be fine."

Hinata nodded and the two girls watched with interest as the fight began. Naruto used his Shadow Clones but was having much difficulty trying to get past Neji's Byakugan which allowed him a near perfect defense. Hinata winced anytime there was a hit landed on either boy and had started to watch the match behind her fingers. Sakura rubbed the girls' back reassuringly as she watched the match and started giving her the play by play for the parts that Hinata completely covered her face. After a heartbreaking emotional breakdown by Neji, confessing how he was always caged and wanted to be able to be free and not be bound by his duty to the branch family, Naruto ended up winning the match. Sakura tried to reign in her excitement for her friend, because she saw how obviously torn Hinata was over the match.

The next match was then announced. It was gonna be Gaara vs. Sasuke. But something was wrong. After half an hour, still no one had walked out to the battlefield. Sakura looked around the field and frowned. Her face turn from one of confusion to one of worry when Genma announced that Sasuke and Gaara's match was being pushed back until Sasuke could be found. "Sasuke… where are you?"

* * *

"What do you want?"

Chiaki shrugged and leaned back on one of the beds inside the medical wing. "I don't have a match until the second round, and I didn't get much sleep. Figured I might as well catch up on it now," Chiaki said carelessly to the Hyuga boy lying on the bed next to her. Neji had been taken to the medical wing to be treated for his injuries only for Chiaki to enter the room five minutes after him and jump onto one of the beds.

"Don't you want to watch your teammates fight?" Neji asked, clearly annoyed by the fact that Chiaki was there.

"Nope. I already know they're gonna win," Chiaki said and closed her eyes, folding her hands behind her head. The two sat in silence for at least half an hour. They both opened their eyes when they heard the announcement regarding Gaara and Sasuke's match and that it was going to be Ayame vs. Kankuro next. As soon as it was silent again, Chiaki cleared her throat awkwardly. "Hey… I just wanted to say… I get it." Neji looked at her in confusion causing her to blush slightly before turning her head away and glare at the ceiling. "Feeling caged, and having to protect someone… I know what it feels like to have to do that. Not that I get as fucking emo as _you_ did, but still… it can get overbearing. But don't read too much into this, ya hear me? I ain't trying to be nice!"

Neji's eyes widened in shock before he let a small smile appear on his face. He turned his face away from the blonde and looked at the ceiling too. For the first time since Chiaki entered the room, Neji didn't feel annoyed by her presence.

* * *

Ayame jumped up and down excitedly in the viewing booth, just waiting to get her turn to compete. It had already been announced by Genma that it would be her turn to fight in five minutes, after Sasuke hadn't shown up and Gaara still hadn't gone to the viewing booth. On normal circumstances Ayame would wander around and try to help find the Uchiha and convince the Sand ninja to sit with them, but Ayame was too excited. It was finally going to be time for her to prove herself.

"You're getting overeager," Yumi pointed out from her spot by the railing, overlooking the arena.

Ayame shrugged and continued to smile. "I can't help it! I'm excited!"

"You're gonna do great, I know it!" Naruto cheered on the girl, looking every bit as excited as she did. During the six days before the finals, the two had actually gotten to talk a lot and became fast friends much like how Sakura and Ayame had become in such a short period of time. They had both tried training with each other during the six days they had and a friendship had blossomed. It helped that both of them had an overwhelming bubbly energy and a similar hyperactivity.

"Thanks Naruto!"

Genma appeared in the center of the field and raised his hand to get everyone's attention, with Temari standing behind him. The genin all looked on in confusion except for Kankuro who glared at a wall, clearly not happy. "Sabaku no Kankuro has forfeited his match with Maki Ayame, making her the winner and advancing her on to the next round."

"WHAT?!" Both Naruto and Ayame called out. Yumi was positive she heard Chiaki's voice scream the same word a few floors down somewhere, but she brushed it off. Ayame looked clearly disappointed while Naruto whirled around to glare at Kankuro, who refused to make eye contact with anyone. "Oh so you talk a big game but when it comes down to it, you punk out! That's bull!"

"No fair! Why'd you forfeit?" Ayame pouted, whirling around to stare at the Sand ninja in confusion.

"I got my reasons," Kankuro said simply, not making eye contact with the redhead.

Ayame crossed her arms over her chest and continued to pout. "Now I have to wait until the second round!"

"The next match will be between Nara Shikamaru and Sabaku no Temari."

Naruto saw Shikamaru standing next to him and grinned. "Good luck Shikamaru! Go and get her!" Naruto cheered, slapping Shikamaru on the back and accidentally sending him over the railing and crashing to the ground on the field. Naruto and Ayame—the only two standing right at the railing besides Shino—peeked over the railing and saw Shikamaru glaring up at the blonde as he dusted himself off and made his way to the center. "Oh well, at least he can't withdraw now!"

* * *

"I withdraw."

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Naruto exclaimed as he stared at Shikamaru in shock. Shikamaru and Temari had been going at it for a few minutes with Temari seeming to have the upper hand with her giant fan that made tornado force winds, but Shikamaru had finally gotten control with his Shadow Possession Jutsu after a carefully thought out and executed strategy. And as soon as he was about to end the match and win, he just raised his hand—and Temari's too consequently—and gave up.

Ayame frowned. "So much for him not forfeiting… but he totally had that!"

"So why did he withdraw?"

"He knew he won the match, and he knew he must've impressed the Hokage," Yumi spoke up, joining the two over by the railing. "He knows he stands a good shot of becoming Chunin so he's giving Temari a chance to prove herself worthy of being Chunin in the next round. He's giving her an opportunity," Yumi explained before shrugging. "At least, that's what I take from it."

"The match between Uchiha Sasuke and Sabaku no Gaara will now begin shortly."

"About time."

The group all turned to see Gaara walking back into the competitor's area, with his arms crossed and a sour look on his face. He walked directly over to the stands without once looking over at his teammates. Kankuro and Temari winced at that, and Yumi and Naruto took a step back, while Shino just watched him cautiously. Ayame, of course, didn't seem remotely afraid.

"Gaara, you're back! Did you go get some food or something?" She asked with a smile on her face, walking to stand beside Gaara. Gaara stiffened the slightest bit, not wanting to tell the redhead girl beside him that he had just come from killing two ninja that had tried to injury him to rig the match between him and Sasuke. So instead he merely looked at her for the briefest of seconds before looking at the field as he gave his answer.

"…or something."

* * *

**A/N: Hey everyone, I hope you liked this chapter! So I have a question for all of you. I'm planning on writing another Naruto story after this using my same OC's and the same pairings, and I'm pretty sure I know what I want to do with it. It'll be an AU high school story. But I've been toying with the idea of a third story for this section and I want to know what you all would like to see if I were to do one. AU suggestions would be good. Would you want to see them as business owners, superheros, vampires, etc. Whatever you all could think of! I would love suggestions!**


	17. Gaara vs Sasuke

Naruto: Alliance of the Ninjas

Chapter 17: Gaara vs. Sasuke

"Aw why did Shikamaru withdraw?!" Ino shouted, nearly destroying Sakura's eardrums for the seventh time during his match. The temptation to hit her blonde friend in the head repeatedly had appeared multiple times, but Sakura had made sure to fight it each time. Now, however, she was starting to see some advantages of hitting Ino at least once…

"He's a strategist through and through."

The group turned to see Emiko walking up to the group with sweet dumplings on a stick, nibbling on the treat. "Hey, where'd you get that?" Choji asked with his mouth watering as he locked eyes on the food.

Emiko shrugged and jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "The concession area; they're selling a bunch of food so I thought I'd grab after I went to go place a bet on my girls for the second round. They're still selling if you—" Choji was out of his seat and down the stairs of the stands before Emiko even finished her sentence. She blinked before shrugging and taking another bite of her dumpling. "So, the Uchiha boy is up versus the sand prodigy? That should make for an interesting match."

"Sasuke will win!" Ino cheered, breaking out the pom-poms again.

Hinata sweatdropped while Sakura facepalmed as Ino continued her cheering. "She's already acting annoying, huh? What a drag."

"Shikamaru!" Ino announced in confusion as she whirled around to see Shikamaru walking over towards the stands. "What are you doing here?"

"I lost, remember? I don't fight anymore, so I figured I'd watch the matches from up here," Shikamaru explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. He moved to stand next to Emiko against the wall but behind Sakura and Ino in the seats.

"Huh, so are any of you going to put some money on the Uchiha kid?" Emiko asked looking at the genin.

"We can't bet; we're underage and it's illegal to have a betting pool on a Chunin exam," Sakura pointed out.

"Oh… so in that case there is no betting pool because betting is wrong and we're not supposed to bet on a Chunin exam. And Anko is in no way shape or form in charge of a betting pool."

"Can you be less subtle?" Shikamaru asked rolling his eyes.

"MY DARLING EMIKO!"

Emiko merely smirked at Shikamaru, giving him a 'checkmate' type look as a prime example of the complete opposite of subtle appeared. Shikamaru sighed as Guy walked—it would probably be more accurate to call it sprinting—over to Emiko and grasped her hands in his. "My darling Emiko, it is so wonderful to see you again!" Just behind Guy, Lee walked up with a crutch and a smile on his face as he spotted his friends. His arm and leg were still in casts and he still had bandages on his face, but he was looking much better than he had in a while.

"L-Lee, you're a-alright!" Hinata called out happily.

"How are you feeling Lee?" Sakura asked, turning in her seat.

Lee grinned sheepishly at the attention he was receiving. "I'm feeling well, thank you!"

"Come on; sit down in Choji's seat!" Ino said getting up and walking over to grab Lee's arm leading him over to the empty seat beside her. "Choji won't mind, he's busy finding food."

"Thank you very much!"

"So, how have the matches been proceeding?" Guy asked Emiko, still not relinquishing the grasp of her hands.

Emiko smiled politely and pulled her hands back before taking another bite of her dumplings. "Well, Naruto beat your kid Neji, Chiaki's opponent was killed before the exams, that Kankuro kid flaked and forfeited so Ayame won, Shikamaru lost to Temari, though he showed the most skill, and Shino and Yumi haven't fought yet."

"Naruto beat Neji?" Lee asked in shock.

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, the match was great. I'm just worried about Sasuke and Kakashi. They still haven't showed up yet."

"Don't worry," Guy stated looking to the pink-haired girl. "If I know Kakashi, he'll show up just in the nick of time."

* * *

Genma took another look at his watch before sighing. The time was up. After ten extra minutes of waiting on Sasuke Uchiha he was still a no show and the crowd was getting restless. It was the most anticipated match and Genma would have to break it to them that they wouldn't be able to witness Gaara versus Sasuke. Sighing he looked back up at the ground. "The time has expired. It is now time that I announce that this match is—" Genma was cut off as a vortex of leaves and wind appeared just to his right. He looked over at it and grinned slightly. The vortex spun around until it started to slow, letting the leaves fall to the ground to reveal Kakashi and Sasuke standing back to back in the field. Kakashi looked up and smiled at Genma from under his mask.

"Sorry we're late, you wouldn't believe the traffic."

Immediately the crowd began to cheer and roar at the fact that Sasuke had made it in time to fight Gaara. Up in the competitor's area, Naruto grinned. "Alright, Sasuke made it on time!" Naruto cheered.

"Man, what an entrance," Yumi commented with a smirk on her face. "You think they planned that?"

"Oi teme, so you decided to show up?" Naruto called out to Sasuke, causing the raven-haired boy to smirk and look up at the blonde. "Here I thought you weren't going to show because you realized that sooner or later you'd have to face me!"

"So I guess that means you won your match?" Sasuke shouted back.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Naruto smirked.

"You're still a loser, dobe!"

Naruto just laughed off the insult and decided not to jump off the balcony and try and attack Sasuke. They had been waiting for Sasuke to get there all this time, and delaying the match further by trying to pound his rival would probably make a lot of the spectators upset. Kakashi quickly began speaking with Genma to make sure that Sasuke wasn't disqualified while Sasuke glared up at Gaara who returned the gesture.

"Hey Sasuke, make sure you don't lose!" Naruto called out again. "Cause I want to fight you myself!"

Sasuke smirked and nodded his head once, showing he understood. Kakashi looked to Sasuke and smiled from underneath his mask. "Alright, have fun Sasuke. And remember what we talked about. You use your… 'gift' and I will personally remove you from this match."

"Got it," Sasuke nodded. As soon as Sasuke agreed Kakashi disappeared, appearing behind Sakura in the stands.

"Hey guys, sorry we're late."

Sakura turned around and laughed. "Not like I expected anything less, Kakashi-sensei, but you couldn't be on time for this?"

Kakashi scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Hehe… well, you see there was this old lady and we needed to stop and help her—"

"Sure you did," Emiko cut him off. "Whatever the reason, you're here now, so let's just watch this match!"

Kakashi smiled and nodded causing the genin to turn to look at the match, while the jounin all shared serious looks. They moved to stand in a circle away from the genin with their faux smiles falling from their faces. "There are eight ANBU Black Ops, which is nowhere near enough for an arena this size," Kakashi pointed out still scanning the crowd.

"They must've spread the ANBU across key areas in the village," Guy suggested.

Emiko shook her head. "No matter what it is they're doing, we can't lower our guard."

"What about the princess?" Kakashi asked, looking to Emiko.

"I've got Yumi and Chiaki watching her. Yumi was given instructions to stay with her at all costs and Chiaki is in the medical wing. That's the area that intruders will have to go through in order to get to where the competing genin are staying."

Genma cleared his throat to get the crowd's attention. "Alright, Gaara come on down here." Gaara shifted his attention from Sasuke to Genma before nodding and turning to walk away, not speaking a word to anyone. Not that anyone wanted to speak to Gaara. He looked like was about to rip someone's head off and he had a bloodthirsty look in his eyes. Even his teammates bit their tongues instead of talking to him.

"Good luck Gaara!"

Gaara paused at the doorway and turned around to see Ayame smiling at him while everyone else looked at her as if she had sprouted a second head. Gaara nodded once in Ayame's direction before exiting the holding area, grasping his shirt just over his heart as soon as he was out the room. It was beating faster. Gaara shook his head and continued his way down the hall. He couldn't think about that now. He had a fight to win.

* * *

It was finally the time, the moment that everyone had been waiting for. The most anticipated match in the Chunin exams was finally about to commence. It was going to be Sasuke versus Gaara in a match that was anticipated to be one of the most exciting matches in Chunin exam history. Gaara approached Sasuke, stopping just a few feet in front of the boy. Genma stood in between them, looking at each of them to make sure they were both ready. He then took a few steps back so that he wasn't directly in between the two.

"Alright the rules for this match are the same as for the preliminaries. The match continues until one of you dies or admits defeat. However I can stop the match, but this is solely my decision," Genma announced. Gaara began laughing a bit maliciously while Sasuke looked indifferent to Genma's rules. "Alright, begin!" Genma announced jumping out of the way.

Immediate the sand from Gaara's gourd started spilling out, surrounding the area around him. Sasuke jumped back to get some distance and tensed waiting for Gaara's first move. Gaara grinned before a pained expression crossed his features. He grabbed his head and started shaking it, trying desperately to get the pain in his head to subside. "P-Please… I beg of you… don't be mad at me… mother…"

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly at Gaara. _What in the world is he going on about?_ Sasuke thought to himself.

"Earlier… I made you taste such awful blood, I'm sorry… but this time I'm sure, that it'll taste so very good…" Gaara continued talking to himself.

"Anyone else a bit freaked out by this?" Yumi asked, stepping back slightly.

Kankuro bit the inside of his cheek. "His conversation has started already… this is dangerous."

"I know… this is the first time Gaara's gotten like this before fighting. That's how powerful of an opponent Sasuke is," Temari agreed.

"What do you mean it's started already?" Naruto asked. "Has this happened before?"

Temari and Kankuro didn't even acknowledge Naruto's question. Instead they remained focused on the match in front of them. Naruto frowned before turning back around to look at the match, noticing that Gaara had lost concentration and his sand had fallen to the ground before he began breathing heavily. Gaara seemed to calm down after a few moments before he looked over at Sasuke and glared. "Bring it on." Sasuke narrowed his eyes and pulled out two shuriken, hurling it at Gaara. The sand at the redheads' feet rose up to become a sand clone, catching the two weapons. Sasuke charged forward, attacking the sand clone, only to have it regrow over Sasuke's arms, as Gaara watched with an indifferent look on his face, safely behind the ring of sand protecting him. Sasuke delivered a solid punch to the face of the sand clone, disintegrating it before heading straight for Gaara. Gaara's sand already moved to defend him, as Sasuke raised his fist. The Uchiha smirked before disappearing from sight, appearing behind Gaara in the blink of an eye. Gaara looked over his shoulder with wide eyes. _He's fast… just like that other one._

Sasuke reeled his fist back to punch Gaara, and Gaara immediately saw the green clad ninja—Lee if he remembered the name correctly. He saw the same moves, stances, and speed. Gaara braced for the impact as he felt Sasuke's fist against his cheek, cracking his sand shield and sending him hurtling for the ground, just barely getting caught in time by his sand.

Sasuke smirked in satisfaction before taking an identical stance that he had seen Lee use during his fights. Sakura blinked in confusion before turning around to look at Kakashi. "You had Sasuke study Lee's fight with Gaara using his Sharingan didn't you?" She questioned looking at the silver-haired man. Lee, Ino, and Hinata looked at Kakashi in confusion, while Shikamaru merely smirked and nodded in agreement with the pink-haired kunoichi.

"Looks like it, Sakura. He's copying every one of Lee's moves to a 't' and he's nearly as fast as Lee is normally."

Kakashi grinned from under his mask and scratched the back of his head. "So you two caught that huh? Nice eyes. You're both right. We figured that speed was going to be the deciding factor in this match based on what we saw when Lee faced Gaara, so we worked on his Taijutsu and his forms."

Sasuke looked across at Gaara and narrowed his eyes slightly. "Come on, show me what you've got," Sasuke taunted. When Gaara did nothing more but stare at Sasuke, he glared. "Alright, if you won't start it, I will!" With that Sasuke took off towards Gaara with a blinding speed, spinning around Gaara's sand and getting up close, kicking him in the stomach and sending him across the field, his sand just barely able to keep up and catch the redhead. "What's the matter Gaara? Is that all you've got?" Sasuke asked with a smirk on his face.

"Way to go Sasuke!" Sakura cheered loudly from the stands.

"Sasuke you're amazing!" Ino shouted louder.

Sasuke looked up into the stands and saw his pink-haired teammate. It had been nearly a month he had gone without seeing her, and having her there to cheer him on and look at him with a face of such awe and admiration made Sasuke's confidence soar. He let a small smile grace his features before he took off again, intent on finishing his match—internally rolling his eyes as he heard Ino swoon shrieking that he had smiled at her. He ran around Gaara multiple times, kicking up dust and disappearing before he ran directly for Gaara, kicking him in the chest before kneeing him in the gut before jumping back out of range.

Kankuro cursed up in the stands. _What's Gaara going to do now? That sand armor takes up too much chakra. It won't last much longer._

Naruto laughed. "Ha, Sasuke is creaming him!"

"Hey," Ayame pouted nudging Naruto's arm slightly. "I know you guys don't like him that much, but he's still my friend."

"He's crazy," Naruto pointed out, causing Ayame to frown in the blonde's direction.

"Don't bother, she won't change her mind about him," Yumi commented, coming to stand on Ayame's other side on the railing. She tossed Naruto an exasperated look. "Trust me, we've tried."

"Hey, something's happening," Shino commented.

The genin all looked down at the fight to see that Gaara was making a hand sign, causing his sand shield to surround him. It rose up and started forming a dome around him. Sasuke cursed and took off, intent on aiming a punch at the small hole showing Gaara's face that had yet to be sealed off. He wasn't fast enough however, as the dome sealed and spikes stuck out cutting Sasuke's cheek and leg and causing his fist to bleed. Sasuke jumped back out of range only for the spikes to recede and add to the strength of the shield.

Naruto noticed the look in Gaara's eyes—the look of sheer malicious and blood thirst right before the shield closed—and he immediately started to tremble. Ayame, who was touching shoulders with the boy, felt his shaking and looked at him in confusion before she noticed the look of pure terror on his face. She bristled and looked towards the field to see an eye made of sand appearing in the sky above the dome. She quickly looked back towards Naruto and put a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"W-We gotta stop this match!"

"What? You're the one who hates it when people forfeit or don't complete a match," Yumi pointed out while twirling a kunai on her finger casually.

"We need to stop this match," Naruto said again with a more definite tonality.

"Why?" Ayame asked.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders after trying to formulate an answer. "If we don't stop this match… Sasuke will die."

The two female rain ninja looked at each other in shock before looking at the battle on the ground. Sasuke was trying to penetrate the sand shield with no luck no matter what he tried. "So… you've sensed it in him too…" Yumi whispered to Naruto, causing the blonde to look at her in surprise. "The killer intent, the overwhelming power, the demon… we sensed it the first moment we saw him."

"You sensed it?" Naruto asked in surprise, seeing both girls nod. He turned his attention towards Ayame, looking at her incredulously after realization set in that she too had nodded. She sensed it. She sensed all the killer intent and maliciousness within Gaara. She sensed it and still she continued to defend him and talk to him and try to befriend him. That was something Naruto just couldn't wrap his mind around. "You mean you sensed what was inside of him—how crazy he was—and you still became friends with him?"

"I sensed what's inside of you too."

Naruto froze in shock, his eyes widening as he stared into the blue eyes of the redhead. S-She could sense him? There was no way! If she knew what he was really like... what he had inside of him... but could she really? Ayame looked completely serious and sincere, as if she was peering deep into him. But while he could feel her searching his eyes, she saw something different in hers. There was something confident… something _dangerous_ in her eyes, but Naruto felt completely safe. Ayame looked away, causing the blonde to blink before he studied her sad and pensive face. "You don't deserve to be treated differently just because of what's inside of you and neither does Gaara. He's been alone for so long… he just needs a friend. Plus he's really nice." At the pointed looks she started receiving from anyone within earshot of the trio Ayame grinned sheepishly. "Well, he's really nice to me, at least."

"Alright if you won't come out, I'll just have to break your shield!"

Everyone directed their attention back to the fight in order to see Sasuke running up the side of the wall inside the arena before pausing to do a serious of hand signs. Naruto watched in confusion as to what Sasuke was doing before his eyes widened as a ball of lightening formed in his hand. "Chidori!" Sasuke shouted the name of his new attack before he took off at a dead sprint down the wall and back towards Gaara's shield. He let his hand holding the Chidori drag behind him, destroying the area it touched on the wall, creating a trail as he continued running. His feet touched the ground and Sasuke picked up the pace running forward and ramming his attack into the shield. There was a cloud of smoke that obscured the vision of the audience members. As soon as the dust cleared, the audience gasped seeing Sasuke's arm inside of the shield. Everyone held their breath before a piercing scream cut through the silence, sending a chill down everyone's spine.

"BLOOD… IT'S MY BLOOD!"

"Gaara!" Ayame called out in fear for her redhead friend, grabbing the railing and preparing to jump over. Yumi and Naruto quickly grabbed her and pulled her so she was back standing and held her down as she struggled against them.

"You're not going to get into the middle of that, princess," Yumi said definitively, leaving no room for argument. Ayame tried to worm her way out of their grasps before looking over at the stunned sand ninjas. "Aren't you going to help him? That's your brother out there!" Temari and Kankuro remained rooted to their spots and watched as Gaara's sand shield disappeared, revealing Gaara's bleeding shoulder. Gaara had been injured. Gaara _never_ got injured.

Suddenly people all around in the audience began to start dropping like flies, passing out and falling asleep. Ayame was barely able to catch Naruto before he passed out. She looked to Yumi and her eyes widened. "It's Genjutsu… Konoha's under attack."


	18. A Village Under Siege

Naruto: Alliance of the Ninja

Chapter 18: A Village Under Siege

"So, you're the guard of a princess? Seems like we have a bit more in common than I thought," Neji commented as he looked over at the blond Rain ninja seated on the bed next to him. After Chiaki had started to open up and stuck around to hang out with Neji, the two had gotten to talking about their lives. Neji explained his whole story about Hinata and the branch families while Chiaki explained about being Princess Ayame's guard. Chiaki had listened intently and silently as Neji told his story and he gave her the same courtesy as she told hers.

Chiaki nodded and shrugged her shoulder. "I told you. It's completely taxing and difficult being in charge of someone's safety, especially someone as crazy as Ayame. I want to beat my head against a wall sometimes with all the shit she pulls."

"Thankfully Hinata is very well behaved," Neji laughed. "She's never causing any trouble."

"Wanna switch? I guarantee you that you'll go insane after a few hours of watching Ayame."

"No, I'm quite attached to Hinata and Hanabi, but thank you for the offer," Neji replied sarcastically.

Chiaki rolled her eyes and looked about to say something equally sarcastic, but a static noise caught her attention as her eyes started to flutter slightly. Shaking her head so she didn't fall asleep, she pressed the button of the com around her neck that hooked up to her ear. "Yeah, sup Emiko-sensei?"

_"Someone's using a sleep-inducing Genjutsu! Konoha's under attack! Get up here and help Yumi protect Ayame, NOW!" _

Chiaki shot up from bed and immediately made a hand sign, internally cursing at the fact that she didn't realize it was Genjutsu when she first started to feel drowsy. "Release!" She muttered, releasing the Genjutsu and immediately dispelling the grogginess she had been feeling. Neji, who was watching her in confusion, quickly pushed himself up and did the same, knowing that the Rain ninja were extremely experienced and probably had an in on what was going on. "Come on, we need to get up to the arena, someone's attacking the village!" Chiaki said urgently, moving to the side of his bed and helping him up.

"You two aren't going anywhere."

Both of them froze before looking up to see Sand Shinobi walking into the room with kunai and shuriken in hand and a malicious look on their faces. Chiaki let go of Neji slowly and took a step away from him, dropping into a fighting stance. "Think you can fight?" Chiaki asked, tossing him a sideways glance.

"I'll manage. What about you?" Neji asked pulling out a kunai as more Sand Shinobi flooded into the room. Chiaki grinned maliciously cracking her neck.

"Please, Sunshine… I've been dying for a fight."

* * *

"Release!" Ayame and Yumi said in unison, releasing the Genjutsu and getting a good look as to what was happening. It seemed as if everyone was asleep excluding the jounin, some chunin, and the ANBU. The two girls caught sight of the Kazekage grabbing the Hokage and jumping up to the top of the arena before a sort of barrier was put in place, with the ANBU trying desperately to penetrate it. Sasuke seemed to have released the Genjutsu too and was looking around in utter confusion as to what was going on.

"The Sand Shinobi are attacking."

Both girls turned their head to see Shino standing next to them, bugs surrounding him. "We need to help defend the village. We're some of the only ones left."

"No, we need to get you to safety, Ayame, before something bad happens," Yumi reminded Ayame. She spoke briefly to Emiko, who was giving her orders over the coms before she turned to look at Ayame. "Emiko wants us over by her now."

Ayame shook her head, placing Naruto's body gently on the ground and feeling his pulse to make sure he was okay. "Shino's right, we need to stand and fight, Yumi, not cower and hide. Wait… where are Temari and Kankuro?" The three looked around before spotting them on the arena grabbing Gaara and quickly running away. Sasuke glared at them and charged after them. Ayame saw this and cursed. "Uchiha's on the move!" With that Ayame jumped out of thte competitors box, moving too fast for Yumi to grab her before she ran off. As soon as Ayame's feet touched the ground of the arena, she disappeared from sight.

Yumi looked at the spot where Ayame had just been and cursed. "Emiko-sensei is going to kill me," she muttered, preparing to go after her redhead teammate before a kunai flew past her face. She and Shino immediately ducked, pulling out their own weapons. Five enemy ninja appeared on the railing before them, holding senbon threateningly and cackling.

"FANG OVER FANG!"

A whirlwind tore through the area as two spinning projectiles hit the ninjas, slamming into the opposite wall and causing them to lose consciousness. Yumi blocked her eyes from debris in time to see Kiba land on the ground with Akamaru on his shoulder, his gaze fixated on her. "You okay?"

"I'm good now, thanks," Yumi thanked. "How'd you evade the Genjutsu?"

"Akamaru sensed something up with Gaara and Sasuke's match and some of the ANBU so I've been on edge," Kiba explained, kneeling down to crouch beside the brunette and his teammate. "While everyone was passing out I looked over and saw Sakura releasing the Genjutsu so I did the same. Good thing too, looks like you guys can use some help. Where are Ayame and Chiaki? And what happened to the idiot here?"

"Chiaki's pinned down with Neji in the medical bay and Ayame took off after the Sand genin and Sasuke. As for Naruto, he'll be fine," Yumi commented, gathering chakra in her hand and tapping the boys shoulder. Naruto shot up violently and looked around in confusion. "The Sand ninja are attacking, I need you to get over to Kakashi and Emiko and tell them that Ayame took off after Sasuke and the Sand genin. They'll be able to get to them in time and bring them back before something stupid happens. Got it?" Yumi ordered, standing and hurling kunai and shuriken at a group of Sand ninja that had tried to triple team Genma down on the field.

Naruto blinked once before nodding, making Shadow Clones and heading for the stairs. "Got it!"

Yumi then turned to look at Shino, Kiba and Akamaru. "As for us, we hold off the Sand from getting into the village any farther. That gives time for Kakashi and Emiko to get Sasuke and Ayame and it gives time for your jounin, chunin, and ANBU to regroup and come up with a plan. The more we take out, the less they have to deal with and the faster they can get the Hokage out of the Kazekage's clutches."

"Got it," Kiba agreed while Shino nodded. Yumi grinned slightly.

"Alright, let's do this."

* * *

Sakura looked around in confusion as she noticed Lee, Ino, Shikamaru, and Hinata all falling asleep. Frowning, she looked around and saw that nearly everyone was asleep in the arena. Immediately she knew something was wrong and sensed the familiar signs of Genjutsu. She quickly made a hand sign and released the Genjutsu before looking around and seeing two Sound ninja appear from the audience and glare maliciously at her. They took off towards her with kunai raised and Sakura looked on in shock before screaming and ducking her head. A clash off metal caught her attention as she looked up and saw Kakashi standing above her, balancing on the seats after sending both of the Sound ninja away. He looked underneath his legs at Sakura who was looking around in shock. He smiled underneath his mask reassuringly before straightening up to keep a look out for any other enemy ninja.

"Hello there Sakura, nice to see you're awake," Kakashi said in a serious tone.

"What's going on Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked in confusion.

"Teaching you Genjutsu proved to be a very smart move on my part. You've got some of the best analytical skills, a talent for chakra control, and an eye for illusions. I need you to listen to me very carefully. Konoha is under attack by enemy ninja. The Sand village has betrayed the Leaf and somehow the Sound village has gotten involved," Kakashi stated before hurling a kunai at the enemy ninja. "Emiko?" Emiko looked over at Kakashi who was busy defending his pink-haired genin from the Sound and Sand ninja after she knocked out two of her own. He was looking at something in the arena before frowning under his mask. "Wasn't that your princess that just took off after Gaara and Sasuke?"

Emiko whipped her head over to stare at the competitor's box and only saw Yumi, Kiba, and Shino there. "Shit! I'm going to kill that girl, I swear!" Emiko seethed, stabbing an enemy ninja in the heart before kicking him away.

"Where did Sasuke go?" Sakura asked in confusion and worry.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

Naruto ran over to the group, jumping over to land just behind Sakura as Kakashi continued to defend the pink-haired kunoichi. Kakashi looked over his shoulder and spotted the blonde ninja of his squad and nodded to himself. "Sakura, Naruto, you two are going to go after Sasuke and Ayame. You'll take Shikamaru with you and another member so you can form a four-man squad. Bring them back immediately and make sure that Sasuke doesn't use his curse mark. Wake Shikamaru up and leave immediately. Naruto, you should be thrilled. This is the first mission we've had in a long time and the first A rank mission since the Land of Waves."

"Another member?" Naruto asked in confusion, though he internally couldn't care about who the other member was. He was going to get an A rank mission and he had his missing teammate to worry about.

Kakashi didn't bother to answer and instead cut his thumb quickly before performing a few hand signs before placing his palm on the ground, causing a small cloud to appear with a 'poof' noise. As the smoke disappeared a small brown dog with a Leaf village headband on his head and a tiny blue vest appeared in front of them. "This is Pakkun, he will be your other teammate and he'll be able to sniff out Sasuke and Ayame."

"Yo," Pakkun greeted the two Genin.

Naruto blinked in confusion. "That dog is talking."

"Yes, yes I am. Now, if you're quite done, we should be going," Pakkun commented. The small dog trotted over to where Shikamaru had fallen to the ground asleep and had sniffed at the boys' leg. After a second, Pakkun moved closer and bit down on Shikamaru's leg, causing the boy to shoot up and flail in pain as he tried to remove the dog from his leg. Sakura glared at the lazy genin.

"Shikamaru, you released Genjutsu too, you faker!" Sakura accused.

Shikamaru pulled Pakkun off of his leg and nodded, pulling at the skin on Pakkun's face. "I didn't want to get involved. Give me a break. I like Sasuke and all, but he's not _my _teammate. This is such a drag."

Sakura shook her head and turned to Naruto, hoping to get him to convince Shikamaru to be a bit more worried about their current situation. Her eyes widened when she saw one of the Sound ninja appearing behind Naruto with a kunai raised. "Naruto, behind you!"

"Huh?" Naruto asked, turning his head slightly. He noticed the enemy ninja above him and winced, tensing as he prepared for the blade to go through his back. The impact never came however as the Sound ninja disappeared within a split second before a crash was heard behind them. The genin all turned to see Guy holding the throat of the enemy ninja so that he was slammed into the wall. The Sound ninja's body was indented into the wall with pieces of cement crumbling around him.

"S-So… fast…" The ninja commented.

Guy smirked. "Not just fast, but strong." Guy pushed his hand on the ninja's throat breaking the wall and sending him out the arena.

"You four are to immediately locate Sasuke and Ayame and go to somewhere safe to await further instructions. Make sure you all stay safe," Kakashi ordered as Guy joined him and Emiko in defending the genin.

"You got it! Now let's get going!" Naruto spoke up enthusiastically, already hopping out the newly made exit.

"Tell my girl I'm going to maim her as soon as this shit is over with!" Emiko shouted in Sakura's direction before she ducked under a shuriken and hurled four of her own. Sakura nodded once before waiting as Pakkun bit Shikamaru's hand and dragged him outside. She fought back a smile before taking off after them as well. As soon as the three genin were out of the arena they fell into a pattern, running through the trees and falling into position. Pakkun led the group, sniffing for Sasuke and Ayame with Naruto and Sakura close behind and Shikamaru taking up the rear.

"So that's what happened," Naruto started talking after Sakura explained what Kakashi had told her before he showed up. "I guess Sasuke must've gotten impatient."

"Man, why'd you guys have to drag me into this?" Shikamaru asked in exasperation as he fell into line with Naruto and Sakura. "This is such a drag."

"It can't be helped, it's Kakashi-sensei's orders," Sakura reminded him as Pakkun took them in a different direction as Sasuke and Ayame changed directions farther ahead of him.

"Sasuke and Ayame are pretty far ahead of us," Pakkun commented as the group continued to run through the trees to try and catch up to the two genin. "They're close to the Sand kids too," Pakkun added on. "At this speed, we can catch up to them soon. They'll reach the Sand genin before we reach them though."

"Damn it, we've got to get to them before they confront them! If Sasuke and Ayame try to go up against them…" Naruto trailed off, not wanting to think about what would happen if his two friends went toe-to-toe in a disadvantaged fight with the Sand siblings. He knew that Sasuke was strong and Ayame seemed like she'd be able to hold her own, but Gaara was a monster. There was no way they'd be able to take him on. Especially with Temari and Kankuro backing him up. "We just need to get there now."

"That's not the only problem we're having."

Sakura frowned as she looked to Pakkun in confusion. "What other problem?"

"We're being followed by around ten Sound ninja."

Immediately the teens all tensed. "What do we do? Stay behind and fight?" Naruto questioned. Shikamaru shook his head.

"If we fight we won't catch up to the others in time. I have another idea."

* * *

Sasuke kept running through the trees, trying to sense the Sand Genin in front of him. The sound of rustling just beside him caught his attention and he quickly pulled out a kunai, spun around and hurled it at whoever was trying to follow him. He was surprised to see the red-head Rain ninja behind him, twirling the kunai that he had just tossed her way on her index finger. She gestured for him to follow her as she took off again, heading in the same direction as he had been. "Nice reflexes, but you gotta hone your senses a bit."

Sasuke scoffed and fell into step beside her. "My senses are fine. I heard you coming up behind me."

"I've been tailing you since you left the arena," Ayame retorted, causing Sasuke to tense up the slightest bit. Had she really been following him for that long? He had only noticed her around two minutes ago, and only decided to act when he heard her closer. Almost as if sensing his thoughts, she responded. "You only heard me because I wanted you to hear me."

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked harshly, trying to pick up the pace and leave Ayame in the dust. However, ditching the Rain ninja was not that easy. She just adjusted her speed to fall into step beside him and tossed the boy a look that obviously meant she was very much aware of what he was trying to do and didn't appreciate it.

"Going after the Sand siblings, same as you."

"I don't know if you noticed, but Gaara's _a bit_ unstable," Sasuke said sarcastically. "You won't be able to fight him off."

"I don't know if _you_ noticed, but I'm the only one that Gaara hasn't tried to kill yet and he's my friend. You may need my help to calm him down to a point where he can listen to reason," Ayame retorted as she gave him a look. "And _don't _presume to know my strengths or weaknesses are. You have no idea what I can do."

"I don't need your help."

Ayame shrugged. "I'd say you do… especially if you want to live long enough to kill Itachi."

Within a split second, Sasuke had stopped running and slammed Ayame into the trunk of a tree, placing his forearm against her shoulders to restrict movement and raising a kunai to her throat. The red head merely glared at Sasuke in annoyance at his sudden action. Sasuke noticed that she didn't seem the least bit surprised, but he didn't dwell on it. He was too full of anger to care. "How do you know about my brother?"

"I know a lot of things I shouldn't," Ayame responded easily. "Like I know how you never got the whole story about why he killed your clan. I know that you've devoted your life to killing him which, by the way, is a crappy reason to live, especially when it really wasn't his fault. I know that if you keep going down the path you're going, you won't even recognize yourself anymore and then what will Sakura think?" That commented caused Sasuke to stiffen and glare while Ayame still looked nonchalant. "I know things about you, your brother and this village that you don't even know."

Sasuke pressed the tip of the kunai into her chin threateningly. "How?" He seethed.

Ayame narrowed her eyes and before the raven-haired boy could blink he felt the kunai being ripped out of his hands and his arm being twisted behind his back. The kunai he had been holding to Ayame's neck had been stabbed into the tree right by his face before his face was shoved painfully into the tree. He tried to struggle to get free but to no avail. Ayame had an iron grip. "Trade secret," Ayame said with a grin on her face. "Not only do I know all of this… but I know _where_ Itachi is." Sasuke's eyes widened at her statement. He felt her grip loosen and he quickly broke free and whirled around to look at her, his Sharingan blazing. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest with an unimpressed look on her face. "You're little Sharingan doesn't scare me."

"Where is he?" Sasuke asked through gritted teeth. "What are you talking about when you say I didn't get the whole story about why Itachi killed my clan? Why wasn't it his fault?"

"You ever stop to wonder why it is he killed your clan?" Ayame asked, narrowing her eyes slightly at him.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes in return. "Because he's a murder and wanted them all dead."

"Wrong. It would make sense if it were a few people, people he genuinely didn't like. The whole clan? Humoring you, let's say he did want the entire clan killed, now the only way that would make sense would be if _all _the other Uchiha's were dead, but here you are. Why do you think that is?"

"He couldn't deal with the guilt of killing an entire clan. He knew I would grow to become an avenger. He wants me to kill him," Sasuke seethed.

"Wrong again. If Itachi is so cold-hearted to kill an entire clan in cold blood—defenseless men, women, and children—why would eradicating one more bring him guilt? He killed your mother and father, the people that brought him into the world, so it's only natural that he would be able to kill his brother too, isn't it? If he's the cold-hearted monster that you make him out to be then he would feel no remorse or guilt for what he had done. Why wouldn't he eradicate the last witness of what he had done? If he did that then he could go to the Hokage with a sob story that he was the only survivor of the bloodbath and no one would be able to contradict him. So, I'm going to ask you again, if Itachi is the monster you claim him to be... why are you still alive?" Sasuke's entire face changed as he processed what the redhead was saying. He couldn't believe it, but she was starting to make sense. Ayame stepped away from him and stuck her hand out to him. "Help me stop Gaara… help me bring him down _safely_ and I'll tell you anything you want to know." Sasuke looked at Ayame's eyes and saw that she looked sincere. And he knew that she was making sense with what she was saying. Not to mention she seemed to know things that no one else possibly could. Perhaps she _did_ know where Itachi was. And if her little theory didn't pan out, at least he'd know where Itachi was to end his life. With that thought in mind, Sasuke smirked and grabbed her hand, shaking it firmly.

"You got yourself a deal."


End file.
